The Nation's River Part 1

The Nation's River.

by United States Department of the Interior.

LETTERS OF TRANSMITTAL

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240

October 1, 1968

Dear Mr. President

The enclosed report, _The Nation's River_, is submitted in response to your February 8, 1965, request that we prepare a program for your consideration which would a.s.sure that the Potomac would serve as a model of scenic and recreation values for the entire country.

This is the final report of your Potomac planning team. In my opinion, the study contributes significantly to a more complete understanding of both the opportunities and the problems of this magnificent river. The proposed program of action, when implemented, will move the area a long step forward toward the challenging goals identified in your directive.

Your call for a broadly based conservation plan for the Potomac has stimulated a wide range of useful actions by citizens' groups and by the Federal, State and local governments during the course of our studies.

While these are too numerous to recite, the partic.i.p.ation and involvement of citizens in decisions affecting the future of the Basin are most promising and deserve recognition and encouragement.

Our recommendations for action cover three broad aspects:

... those related to present and future water resource problems in the Basin; ... those related to the protection and restoration of the Basin's scenic and natural a.s.sets; ... those to ensure that future planning and action will proceed in a wise and coordinated manner.

I call particular attention to the following recommendations:

... to protect the mainstem Potomac River and its banks from Washington to c.u.mberland, Maryland, and to make it accessible to the public, the report calls for prompt legislative authorization, funding and establishment of a Potomac National River consisting of Federal, State and local components. The proposed legislation to establish the Potomac National River which you sent to the Congress on March 6, 1968, and which was introduced as S. 3157, is based on the new and exciting concept that the urgent objectives of Potomac River conservation can and should be accomplished through cooperative action by all levels of government;

... to achieve the water-quality goals established as State standards, the report recommends coordination of Federal, State and local powers to achieve the waste treatment measures required, within five years, and effective action toward meeting similar requirements in handling wastes at all Federal establishments in the Basin. It calls, also, for immediate reconvening of the 1957 Enforcement Conference on the Potomac to focus attention on the timetables for controlling pollution in the estuary;

... to provide a measure of drought insurance, the report calls for early completion of Bloomington Dam and Reservoir;

... to meet growing needs for munic.i.p.al and industrial water to achieve antic.i.p.ated economic growth in upstream areas, the report identified six reservoirs which are consistent with other aspects of the report. The river management afforded by operation of the reservoirs could also meet the water supply needs of the Washington metropolitan area for at least 20 years. The report urges continuing research and study of alternative sources for the metropolitan area supply, including use of the upper estuary to meet critical short-term demands;

... to a.s.sure continuity of comprehensive planning and management, the report recognizes the need to mobilize the skills and authorities of all levels of government and support therefore by alert and informed citizens and citizen groups. The Governors of the Basin States and the District of Columbia have proposed a Federal-Interstate Compact for the Potomac and arranged to have a draft prepared by the Potomac River Basin Advisory Committee. The Water Resources Council will continue to work with the States in this effort--antic.i.p.ating that proposals will emerge which merit both State and Federal support.

Your a.s.signment, Mr. President, has been exciting and challenging. We hope that our effort has contributed to achieving your dreams for this magnificent valley.

Respectfully yours,

[signature]

Secretary of the Interior

The President The White House Washington, D.C.

Enclosure

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240

October 1, 1968

Dear Mr. Secretary:

Since early February 1965, when President Johnson asked you to develop a program which would make the Potomac "a model of scenic and recreation values", there has been a continuing joint effort to achieve this exciting objective.

The Interdepartmental Task Force, which you and your fellow Cabinet officers established, has coordinated the Federal effort. When the four Basin State Governors and the Commissioner of the District of Columbia acted to establish the Potomac River Basin Advisory Committee, we had a genuine opportunity to achieve useful and effective Federal-State cooperative relationships. As you know, our two groups have worked together in a cordial and productive way.

We have listened carefully to the views of individual citizens and citizen groups in a real effort to sense the needs and aspirations of the people who live in the valley and the millions who visit our Nation's Capital and the historic and beautiful Potomac valley.

Publication of an Interim Report two years ago proved to be a useful means for obtaining citizen partic.i.p.ation.

This report summarizes a series of studies made in response to the President's directive. Although it is our final report, we urge that it be looked upon as the next step in a continuing planning process. It points to action to meet present and near-term needs and to the desirability of continued planning to provide sound bases for the further resource-use decisions which citizens of the Basin will be called upon to make as those decisions become more timely.

The body of the report is a Department of the Interior doc.u.ment, couched whenever possible in nontechnical language in the hope that it may find a wide lay readership. The program for action, which const.i.tutes the final chapter, is concurred in by the Federal agencies on the Interdepartmental Task Force. Comments of the Potomac River Basin Advisory Committee are set forth in the attached letter from its Chairman, Mr. James J. O'Donnell. Responsibility for leadership in proceeding with the proposed actions is identified, as appropriate, to specific Federal agencies, States or local governmental ent.i.ties.

Other reports have been or will be issued which form integral parts of this endeavor. These include the following:

_Potomac Interim Report to the President_--January 1966 ... _The Creek and The City_--Urban Pressures on a Natural Stream--Rock Creek Park and Metropolitan Washington--January 1967 ... _The Potomac_--The Report of the Potomac Planning Task Force--a.s.sembled by the American Inst.i.tute of Architects--September 1967 ... _Report of the Chief of Engineers, United States Army Corps of Engineers, Potomac River Basin, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia_ (This report, now in the process of official review, will provide a basis for action on water supply and related matters.)

In addition to the published doc.u.ments, each of the four Sub-Task Forces established by the Interdepartmental Task Force prepared reports which const.i.tuted invaluable working doc.u.ments on several aspects of Potomac Basin planning. These include the following:

_Report of the Water Supply and Flood Control Sub-Task Force_ ...

_Report of the Water Quality Sub-Task Force_ ... _Report of the Sedimentation and Erosion Sub-Task Force_ ... _Report of the Recreation and Landscape Sub-Task Force_.

Copies of these working doc.u.ments will be distributed to concerned local, State and Federal agencies and will be on file in those offices.

You will note particularly that the attached report emphasizes the urgent need for a continuing and broadly based planning effort. If we are to fully achieve the objective of making the Potomac a model, and we must, resource planning and management must mobilize the authorities and the skills of the Federal Government, the States, the local jurisdictions and the citizens. I am convinced that the Potomac Basin needs:

... an alert, active, basinwide citizen organization with the perspective to see the area's total needs and the determination to make certain that action is taken to meet those requirements;

... a formally established relationship between the various levels of government to continue comprehensive planning--and to make certain that action at all levels is consistent with the established objectives.

Sincerely yours,

[signature]

Kenneth Holum a.s.sistant Secretary

Honorable Stewart L. Udall, Secretary Department of the Interior Washington, D.C. 20240

Enclosure

POTOMAC RIVER BASIN ADVISORY COMMITTEE 1025 VERMONT AVENUE, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005