CONTENTS Interstate compact on juveniles, collec- tion of taxes, and reimburse unmarried judges. August 8, 1969. COMMITTEE ON THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA NINETY-FIRST CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON WATER SUPPLY PROBLEMS OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL JULY 24, 1969 Printed for the use of the Committee on the District of Columbia WATER SUPPLY PROBLEMS OF THE THURSDAY, JULY 24, 1969 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Washington, D.C. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:10 a.m., in room 6226, New Senate Office Building, Senator Joseph D. Tydings (chairman of the committee) presiding. Present: Senators Tydings, Mathias, and Spong. The CHAIRMAN. The committee meets today to consider the current and future water supply problems in the National Capital region. Let it never be said we do not have action when we announce hearings of this committee. I am very grateful to those witnesses who have come here on such short notice, officials of the county governments, distinguished members of the Office of the Corps of Engineers. It may be that the chronic summer water shortage here in Washington can be solved simply by holding congressional hearings. Since these hearings were announced last week, we have gone from drought to deluge, for the time being at least. I think the rainfall of the past few days has tended to obscure the fact that Washington continues to face the possibility in the years to come of severe water shortages. Year after year we face the possibility that the daily flow of the Potomac may well drop from its normal 3.3 billion gallons per day to 500 or 600 million gallons per day. Year after year, the rapidly increasing population of this area places greater and greater demands on this highly uncertain water supply. The rainfall we have experienced in the last 2 days has been sudden, heavy, and no doubt contributed a substantial quantity of water to our area. Yet precisely because it has been so sudden and forceful, the runoff has been large and rapid, particularly in our sister State across the Potomac. It has outpaced the Potomac system's capacity to handle this scale of water on such short notice. The result is that water that comes and goes without being stored or used is in effect wasted. It may well be that despite the past rainfall, the National Capital region could face a water shortage in mid or late August. Certainly we face more and more acute shortages as water demand grows even larger from year to year. This area is one of the most rapidly growing populationwise in the Nation. Washington and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs face a future crisis in water supply primarily because of the rapidly increasing pop |