INTRODUCTION

Over fourteen thousand square miles of land in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia comprise the Potomac River . Basin. This figure will remain constant. Approximately three million people depend upon the waters of the Basin. This statistic alters every day. Between 1930 and 1960, the population served by the Basin's water resources more than doubled. The Department of Commerce has predicted that this figure will reach five million by 1985 and more than seven million by 2010.

Projected increases in the demands for water, existing and potential pollution problems and growing concern with the preservation of water-related resources such as recreation lands and wildlife are factors creating an insistent demand for proper planning and management of the water resources of the Basin. The fact that the flow of water in the Potomac River and its tributaries is subject to major fluctuation from drought to flood, when coupled with the obviously growing demands which will be placed upon the Basin's resources, makes it imperative that a vehicle be developed which will permit the proper management and utilization of the Basin's resources throughout the jurisdictions concerned.

The proposed Potomac River Basin Compact, which is printed as Appendix I to this Report, represents the first major attempt by all affected jurisdictions to create an interstate-federal administrative body with powers and responsibilities sufficient to assure sound water resource planning and management for the entire Basin area. At its 1968 Regular Session, the General Assembly adopted House Joint Resolution No. 102, which is printed as Appendix II to this Report, and assigned the Virginia Advisory Legislative Council the specific task

"to make a study of the proposed Potomac River Basin Compact and report on the advisability of the Commonwealth of Virginia adopting and becoming a party to such Compact." House Joint Resolution No. 102.

Pursuant to this directive, the Council appointed Russell M. Carneal, member of the Council and of the House of Delegates from Williamsburg, to serve as the Chairman of a special Committee to study the proposed Compact and submit an initial report and recommendations to the Council for its consideration. The following individuals were appointed to serve with Mr. Carneal on the Committee: Leslie D. Campbell, Jr., member of the State Senate, Ashland; John A. K. Donovan, member of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin and former member of the State Senate, Falls Church; Walther B. Fidler, member of the House of Delegates, Warsaw; Milton Hickman, Chairman of the Marine Resources Commission, Painter; J. Clifford Hutt, member of the Marine Resources Commission, Montross; R. C. Insley, Poquoson; Francis C. Lee, former member of the Potomac River Basin Advisory Committee and member of the Subcommittee on Compact Drafting, Richmond; 0. A. Spady, Battery Park; and Hiram Zigler, Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, Richmond. Mr. Fidler was elected Vice-Chairman, and the Division of Statutory Research and Drafting, represented by Mary Spain, served as Secretary.

Shortly after its formation in 1968, the Committee reviewed the preliminary September 1967 draft of the proposed Compact. During 1968, this preliminary draft was reviewed by interested agencies and parties and revised. After the release of the final October 1968 draft of the Compact, the Committee reviewed that draft and scheduled four public hearings which it held immediately after the conclusion of the 1969 Special Session of the General Assembly. These hearings were held throughout the Basin area in Virginia as follows: April 28 - Falls Church; April 29 - Montross; May 8 - Harrisonburg; and May 9 - Winchester.

The Committee consulted with Roy L. Orndorff, Acting Executive Secretary of the Potomac River Basin Advisory Committee, and Julian M. Alexander, Commissioner of Water Resources of Virginia, who both accompanied the Committee on its tour of public hearings.

The Committee submitted an initial report and recommendations to the Council in December. Their report was not unanimous and reflected substantial disagreement as to the proper course of action for the Council to take in submitting this Report.

A bare majority of the Committee favored the Council recommending the proposed Compact as drafted to the General Assembly so that swift action on the Compact might be achieved. A substantial minority of the Committee recommended that the Council forward the Compact to the General Assembly with specific suggestions for amendments that would limit the scope of the proposed Compact, remove certain provisions· giving powers to the proposed interstate-federal Commission created by the Compact and revamp the membership provisions to a degree. The recommendations and discussion of the Compact from the report of the Committee majority are carried in Appendix III. The dissenting Committee members' statement appears in Appendix IV.

The Council has reviewed the Compact, the Committee report and the dissenting statement and submits the following report, findings and recommendations.

II. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

A. The General Assembly should review the proposed Potomac River Basin Compact and take action on the Compact at the 1970 Regular Session.

B. The General Assembly should review suggestions to amend the proposed Compact on their merits as they are presented.

One matter upon which the Council and the Committee are in unanimous agreement is the pressing and immediate need to develop a proper mechanism by which the jurisdictions in the Potomac Basin can achieve proper use and management of the River's water resources before pollution and waste deplete these resources to a point beyond repair.

Thus we believe it is appropriate and highly desirable for the General Assembly to review and act on the proposed Compact at this next Regular Session. The extent, if any, to which the Compact should be amended before it is adopted is a question which we believe the General Assembly must ultimately decide. We are offering no specific recommendations for amendment in this Report. The dissenting Committee members' statement in Appendix IV lists several specific suggestions for amendment. The majority Committee report in Appendix III carries an extensive discussion of the criticisms of the Compact put before the Committee and potential amendments implied in such criticisms. The question of amendment is uniquely a legislative matter, and we believe that the question can best be answered through the legislative process.

We forward the proposed Compact to you for your consideration with the hope and expectation that your actions will result in progress toward establishment of a proper mechanism to solve the urgent problems of the Basin area and to preserve the limited and precious resources flowing from the Potomac.

Respectfully submitted,

C. W. Cleaton, Chairman

J.C. Hutcheson, Vice-Chairman

Russell M. Carneal

Robert C. Fitzgerald

J.D. Hagood

Edward E. Lane

Garnett S. Moore

Lewis A. McMorran, Jr.

Sam E. Pope

Arthur H. Richardson

William F. Stone

James M. Thomson

Edward E. Willey