There’s Plenty of Water for All of Us

The dispute between Maryland and Virginia over the Potomac River’s water is

one that is centuries old. The squabble originated when Charles I granted Cecil Calvert

the land of what is now Maryland that extends across the Potomac River and right up the

Virginia shore. This gave Virginia limitations on virtually anything they wanted that was

related to resource and trade. Both states have gone to the Supreme Court many times

over the various issues for usage of the water. As of December 10, 2003, the High Court

finally ruled in favor of Virginia, granting the state permission to run a 725 ft. long, 10 ft.

wide pipe into the Potomac River to supply water to 1.2 million people in Fairfax,

Loudoun, and Prince William counties. This causes concern as to whether the Potomac

will be able to support the need for the increased water demands. One examiner declares,

“officials expect daily water demand to grow to 75 million gallons a day by 2020,” (Lane

A01), while another, Peter Whoriskey of The Washington Post, calls these fears “All

Wet.” Only time will tell what is to happen to the Potomac and the precious resources it

has to offer.

The Potomac River basin has been supporting living resources, migration, trade,

and many cultures for over 10,000 years, and is presently home to about 5 million people.

Stretching across four states (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the

District of Columbia), the river is over 380 miles long and reaches a width of more than

11 miles as it nears the Chesapeake Bay at Point Lookout, Maryland. The average flow

of water down the Potomac is a massive 7 billion gallons per day; about 486 million

gallons are withdrawn daily to supply water to the Maryland, D.C., and Virginia area.

(ICPRB).
 The dispute over the Potomac’s water dates all the way back to the year 1632

when, “Charles I granted a charter to Cecil Calvert, Baron of Baltimore for a new colony

north of the ‘River of Pattowmack unto the further bank of the said river.’”

(www.virginiaplaces.org). Calvert subsequently named his new colony “Maryland after

the wife of Charles I, Queen Henrietta Maria.” The grant ran from the 40-degree parallel

south to the low water mark of the Potomac directly on Virginia’s shore. The first

disagreement between Virginia and Maryland arose because, “Maryland objected to

Virginian’s poaching fish from ‘its’ water.” Virginian’s did not pay very much attention

to Maryland’s complaints and essentially continued to make a significant profit from the

fish they caught in the Potomac without having to pay Maryland anything.

In 1785, arguments still rang out across the Potomac, but with “George

Washington's assistance, the two states agreed in the Compact of 1785 that neither

Virginia nor Maryland could interfere with the other's trade or fishing in the Potomac.

Maryland had the law on its side but remembers that the colonies had successfully

rebelled against the King and the authority of his ancient land grants was not clear.

Virginia's leverage was its threat to close the Chesapeake Bay to Maryland commerce,

blocking ocean-going traffic passing through the mouth of the bay. While Maryland

might control the Potomac River, Virginia controlled Cape Charles and Cape Henry.”

(www.virginiaplaces.org), although Maryland and Virginia came to this agreement, it is

obvious that many issues would be sure to surface in the near future.

The acceptance of Charles I’s 1632 grant between Maryland and Virginia in the

Compact of 1785 explains why the Maryland-Virginia border is not in the middle of the

river and why Virginia would need a permit to extend its water intake pipe into the center
of the river. The Virginia/Maryland boundaries continued to change, and Virginian

delegates finally outmaneuvered the Maryland side and obtained rights to the valuable

fish and oyster resources of "Smith's Island, all of Fox Island, the great oyster rock

known as Muddy Marsh in Tangier Sound, and the valuable crabbing flats from Green

Harbor Island to Robin Hood Bar in Pocomoke Sound."(Wennersten 78). This finally

gave Virginia a legal right to gain access to the river’s resources.

The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, otherwise known as the

ICPRB, is an organization established in 1940 that was created by a pact between

Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to address

water quality and related land resource issues in the Potomac Basin. The ICPRB has

done a great job communicating the status of the Potomac to state and federal

governments to set up plans and projects to keep the river healthy.

On April 28, 2003 the Supreme Court announced that they “want the last word in

the latest flare-up” (Lane), of a dispute over the Potomac River’s water that dates back

centuries. This case will decide whether Maryland will be able to prevent Virginia from

drawing Potomac water it needs for its expanding suburbs.

Lane states Maryland’s officials argue that “limitations on Virginia’s use of the river are

needed to preserve a limited natural resource.” While Virginia continues to state their

need for unrestricted access to the river’s fresh water to support their rapidly growing

population. This excerpt from Whoriskey’s article shows that there is no chance of the

Potomac River’s resources being spread too thin, “two immense reservoirs upriver have

been maintained almost since their construction in the early 1980’s, retaining 17 billion
gallons of water” this water is held in until it is needed during times of drought, these

reservoirs prevented severe water restrictions during the drought of 02’.

The supreme court finally reach its verdict on December 10, 2003 in 7 to 2 in

Virginia’s favor, giving them access to the river by allowing them to build a 725-foot-

long, 10 foot wide pipeline out from Virginia’s shoreline, this pipeline will supply water

300 million gallons per day to 1.2 million people in Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince

William Counties. The pipeline two years to complete and required building a dam to

divert the river during its construction. Greenhouse’s article showed that the ruling in

Virginia’s favor did not appear to reflect any sectionalism on the part of the justices,

“both dissenters who voted for Maryland, live in Virginia,” the majority of the vote

included two Virginian Justices, one Maryland Justice, and three Justices from the

District of Columbia.

Maryland, Virginia, and D.C. should no longer fret about what is happening to the

Potomac’s water because it is in good hands with The Interstate Commission on the

Potomac River Basin. The ICPRB will continue to monitor the activity of the river in

conjunction with the United States Geological Survey and both D.C., Maryland and

Virginia water authorities. Cooperation between states will be necessary in order to

sustain the Potomac River’s resources and to ensure reservoirs are maintained, projects

are completed, and waste is minimized. According to the ICPRB website

(www.potomacriver.org) the ICPRB is currently following these goals it has set for itself:

“To be the leader in the coordination of basin-wide interstate and regional efforts to

improve and protect water quality and related resources, to aggressively act to stimulate

federal, state and local initiatives to improve and protect water quality, to provide liaison
with citizen and governmental groups that results in actions or establishment of coalitions

that address water related issues, to create an active and informed constituency for basin

water related issues, to provide technical support to assure water related issues are

addressed through sound science and credible technological methods, to secure adequate

funding to conduct programs in a comprehensive, basin-wide manner, to continue

national and international roles as a partner and facilitator with other regional basin

groups in fostering cooperation, and to structure internal operations for the most effective

delivery of services.” It is obvious that there is a lot of work to be done but many

regulations are in place to ensure the work gets done.

Maryland and Virginia seem to have come to an agreement for now, but a lot of

sharing and compromising will be needed to keep everybody happy including our

Potomac River. Although there are numerous precautions being taken as to the use of the

Potomac’s water, Virginia needs to draw the line on development to make sure the river is

not over polluted with the runoff caused by rapid population growth. There is plenty of

water in the Potomac for all of us if we remember to plan and conserve.

 Works Cited

Greenhouse, Linda. “Supreme Court Backs Virginia in Rift Over Potomac Water” New
York Times 10 Dec. 2003, Late ed., Sec A27.

Hoffman, Joseph. Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin. 22 Nov. 2004
<http://www.potomacriver.org.>

Lane, Charles “High Court to Hear Md.-Va. Water Case,” The Washington Post 29 Apr.
2003, Final ed., Sec. A1.

Virginia Places. 22 Nov 2004 <http://www.virginiaplaces.org/boundries.html>

Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay. Centerville, MD:

Tidewater, 1981. 78.

Whoriskey, Peter. “Potomac River Fears Called All Wet; Engineers Say Reservoirs,
Sharing Will Support Water Demand,” The Washington Post 5 May. 2003, Final
ed. Sec. Metro, B4.