THE NATION'S RIVER
A report on the Potomac from the U.S. Department of the Interior, withrecommendations for action by the Federal Interdepartmental Task Force on the Potomac.
LETTERS OF TRANSMITTAL
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY—WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240
Dear Mr. President
The enclosed report, The Nation's River, is submitted in response toyour February 8, 1965, request that we prepare a program for yourconsideration which would assure that the Potomac would serve as a modelof 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 ofboth the opportunities and the problems of this magnificent river. Theproposed program of action, when implemented, will move the area a longstep forward toward the challenging goals identified in your directive.
Your call for a broadly based conservation plan for the Potomac hasstimulated a wide range of useful actions by citizens' groups and by theFederal, State and local governments during the course of our studies.While these are too numerous to recite, the participation andinvolvement of citizens in decisions affecting the future of the Basinare 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 theBasin; ... those related to the protection and restoration of theBasin's scenic and natural assets; ... those to ensure that futureplanning 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 Washingtonto Cumberland, Maryland, and to make it accessible to the public, thereport calls for prompt legislative authorization, funding andestablishment of a Potomac National River consisting of Federal, Stateand local components. The proposed legislation to establish the PotomacNational River which you sent to the Congress on March 6, 1968, andwhich was introduced as S. 3157, is based on the new and excitingconcept that the urgent objectives of Potomac River conservation can andshould be accomplished through cooperative action by all levels ofgovernment;
... to achieve the water-quality goals established as State standards,the report recommends coordination of Federal, State and local powers toachieve the waste treatment measures required, within five years, andeffective action toward meeting similar requirements in handling wastesat all Federal establishments in the Basin. It calls, also, forimmediate reconvening of the 1957 Enforcement Conference on the Potomacto focus attention on the timetables for controlling pollution in theestuary;
... to provide a measure of drought insura