The Potomac River and its tributaries have been the subject of dispute for over 350 years. Although the river extends throughout four states and the District of Columbia, a generally accepted translation of a 1632 land grant from King Charles I granted Maryland possession of the river up to the high-water mark on the Virginia shore. Over the years, Maryland's ownership of the river has led to numerous battles with surrounding jurisdictions, especially the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Early disputes between Maryland and Virginia did not focus on the water itself, but rather on the land surrounding it. However, the fight over water rights intensified as the years passed. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, numerous resolutions were passed in attempts to settle the ownership battle between the two states. One of those agreements, the Compact of 1785, resolved that the Potomac River was to be a "common highway," with riparian and fishing rights common to citizens of both states. That compact did not resolve the issue of ownership, however, so the dispute continued. In 1877, as the result of an arbitration award, Maryland's ownership was amended to the low-water mark on the Virginia shore. The MathewsNelson Survey of 1928 affirmed Maryland's ownership of the Potomac up to the low-water mark.

Legislation enacted by the General Assembly in 1933 authorized Maryland to issue water appropriation permits to both residents of Maryland and out-of-state residents. Although Maryland retained authority over water withdrawals from the Potomac River, the legislation required the State to ensure an adequate supply of water to other riparian jurisdictions.

In the late 1930s, concern over the river began to focus not only on its ownership, but also on how its use was affecting the river's health. In response to the growing concern over water quality, in 1939, Maryland ratified the establishment of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin. The commission, which included representatives from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, was charged with making recommendations regarding water supply and water pollution in the river. However, due to its limited powers, the commission was largely advisory and educational. By the mid-1960s, it was clear that the commission was somewhat ineffective.

In 1956, Senate President Louis L. Goldstein, as chairman of the General Assembly's Legislative Council, appointed a committee to consider and study problems relating to the Potomac River. The Committee on the Potomac River highlighted several issues that it believed warranted further consideration, including water supply, flood control, and pollution. The committee observed that, while Maryland had established sanitary districts, river commissions, and planning commissions in its efforts to conserve and protect the river, other jurisdictions had provided little cooperation and had continued to pollute. Among the committee's recommendations was that the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin explore means to alleviate or control the problems of interstate pollution and sewage on the river in specified areas.

In 1957, the General Assembly enacted, and Governor Theodore R. McKeldin signed, legislation which revoked the Compact of 1785. Virginia appealed to the Supreme Court, which referred the case in 1958 to retired justice Stanley Reed, as special master, in Virginia v. Maryland. Under pressure from justice Reed, a new agreement, the Potomac River Compact of 1958, was drafted. That compact, which superceded the Compact of 1785, provided that Virginia must acknowledge Maryland as the owner of the Potomac River, as laid out in the Mathews-Nelson Survey, and that certain existing riparian rights of the Compact of 1785 were to be preserved. Although the Potomac River Compact of 1958 was ratified by both states in 1959, tension between the states continued to exist.

Environmental concerns persisted into the latter part of the twentieth century. Maryland lawmakers continued to accuse their neighbors of allowing development to pollute the Potomac River and waste its precious water. In 1996, the Fairfax County Water Authority (FCWA), which withdrew millions of gallons of water from the Virginia shoreline of the Potomac each day, asked Maryland officials to approve the construction of a new water intake pipe that would extend into the center of the river. The existing intake pipe took water from the shoreline, where, Virginia officials argued, the water was less clean. Maryland officials denied the request in 1997, arguing that the FCWA provided insufficient justification for building the new pipe. FCWA appealed the decision to a Maryland administrative law judge, but grew tired of waiting for a ruling.

In February 2000, Virginia filed suit against Maryland in the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve the issue of the proposed intake pipe. Virginia claimed that it had the authority to build the intake pipe, under, first, the Compact of 1785 and, later, the Potomac River Compact of 1958. Virginia argued that the compacts
preserved the commonwealth's rights, "including the privileges of erecting and maintaining wharves and other improvements of the citizens of each state along the shores of the Potomac River adjoining their lands". Maryland disagreed, and argued that the dispute was not rightly before the Supreme Court, since Virginia had not exhausted its administrative remedies in Maryland. Senate Economic and Environmental Affairs Chairman Clarence W. Blount told The Washington Times, "if Virginia and Maryland were independent states, we would be at war over this."

Legislation was enacted during the 2000 session, which Governor Parris N. Glendening signed, to prohibit the construction of new intake pipes in the river until several studies could be completed. Virginia responded to the Maryland legislation by noting it in a brief filed with the Supreme Court, and suggesting that the legislation illustrated the need for the federal court to resolve the river dispute between the two states at the federal level.

The courts had ruled on Potomac River feuds between Maryland and Virginia three times in two centuries - in 1894, in 1910, and in 1958. Apparently, the river would continue to be a matter for the courts well into the twenty-first century.
 
 

"Assembly Delays Va. Water Pipe," Capital, March 28, 2000.

Chapter 50 of the Acts of the General Assembly of 1929.

Chapter 526 of the Acts of the General Assembly of 1933.

Chapter 320 of the Acts of the General Assembly of 1939.

Chapter 765 of the Acts of the General Assembly of 1957.

"Fight Over Mid-Potomac Intake Turns to Issue of County's Need," Daily Record, November 15, 1999.

"High Court to End Feud Over Waters of Potomac," Washington Times, May 31, 2000.

"A History of Potomac River Conflicts," Legal Rights in Potomac Waters, Lasson, Kenneth, Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Proceedings of a Conference at Harper's Ferry, 1976, pages 2-33.

Maryland Manual, 1955-1956, Compiled by Radoff, Morris L., Hall of Records Commission, 1955.

"Md. Assembly Moves to Bar Virginia From Extending Potomac Intake Pipe," Daily Record, March 29, 2000.

"Md. Bills Target Water Project," Washington Post, February 23, 2000.

"Pols May Soften Potomac River Bill," The Gazette, March 31, 2000.

The Potomac River Compact of 1958: (Report] to Theodore R. McKeldin, Governor of Maryland, and J. Lindsay Almond, Jr., Governor of Virginia, Potomac River Fisheries Commission, December 20, 1958.

"Report of the Potomac River Committee," Report to the General Assembly of 1958: Proposed Bills Legislative Council, Committee on the Potomac River, pages 269-274. Virginia v. Maryland, 355 U.S. 946 (1958).

"Virginia Water Tap Plan Stymied," Washington Times, March 28, 2000.

"The Water Rights of Maryland in the Potomac River Basin," Legal Rights in Potomac Waters, Rich, Warren K., Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Proceedings of a Conference at Harper's Ferry, 1976, pages 169-186.