WASHINGTON SUBURBAN SANITARY COMMISSION

Chairman: Raymond W. Bellamy, 1957
J. Norman Ager, 1957; L. S. (Ted) Ray, 1957
James B. Parkhill, Secretary-Treasurer
Arthur C. Keefer, General Counsel
Harry B. Shaw, Chief Engineer

4017 Hamilton Street, Hyattsville Telephone: Appleton 7-7700

The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission was created by
the General Assembly of Maryland in 1918. It is composed of three
members appointed by the Governor for a term of six years. When
the Commission was organized, the Washington Suburban Sanitary
District had an area of 94 square miles. Additions were made to the
District in succeeding years by the General Assembly of Maryland.
It now contains 213 square miles within Prince George's and Mont-
gomery Counties adjacent to the District of Columbia. The present
District has an estimated population of 395,000 and an assessed
valuation of 828 millions of dollars.

The Commission provides for the construction and the operation
of the water supply and sewerage systems, has jurisdiction over storm
drainage, plumbing, and the location of utilities and provides refuse
disposal service within the Sanitary District. It also operates a
refuse collection service in the suburban portion of Montgomery
County. As of December 31, 1952, the water and sewerage systems
of the Commission contained 1,076 and 920 miles of mains respectively.

The main source of water supply of the Sanitary District is the
Patuxent River, which has been impounded by the construction of
a dam near Brighton in Montgomery County. There is under con-
struction another dam on the same river near Laurel in Prince
George's County. When this dam is completed, the Washington
Suburban Sanitary District will have an assured yield from the
Patuxent River of slightly over 40 million gallons daily. The Com-
mission also obtains a portion of its water supply from the North-
west Branch of the Anacostia River, which water is treated in a
rapid sand filtration plant at Burnt Mills. It has a third source of
supply from deep wells at Forest Heights in the southern portion of
the District. This underground supply will yield at present 1.4 million
gallons daily.

At the present time sewage is disposed of by discharging it into
the District of Columbia sewerage system and treating it at the
Anacostia Sewage Treatment Works of the Commission near Bladens-
burg, Maryland. Negotiations are under way with the District of
Columbia whereby all the sewage of the Sanitary District will be
treated at the District of Columbia Sewage Treatment Plant at Blue
Plains.

Refuse is disposed of by means of an incinerator located at Lyttons-
ville and a sanitary landfill at Fairland in Montgomery County and
an incinerator at Bladensburg in Prince George's County.

The construction operations of the 'Commission are financed from
proceeds of bonds. These bonds are retired with funds from several