![[photo, Potomac River at Shepherdstown Bridge, near where James Rumsey in 1787 launched first steamboat]](/msa/mdmanual/01glance/images/1198-1-2529.jpg)
John C. Wirts, West Virginia, Chair (chosen by Commission in Sept., 1-year term), 2020
Maryland members appointed by Governor to 2-year terms: vacancy (Nancy A. Hausrath, alternate, 2019); Robert J. Lewis, 2015 (vacancy, alternate).
Ex officio: Lawrence J. Hogan, Jr., Governor (Donald Lee Currey, alternate, 2023)
Potomac River at Shepherdstown Bridge, near where James Rumsey in 1787 launched first steamboat, October 2007. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
30 West Gude Drive, Suite 450, Rockville, MD 20850
(301) 984-1908
web: www.potomacriver.org/
The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin is an agency of those jurisdictions comprising the Potomac River drainage basin. Established by federal law in 1940, the Commission operates under the Potomac Valley Conservancy District Compact (Joint Resolution no. 93, July 11, 1940, Chapter 579; amended in 1970; P.L. 91-407; U.S. Code, Title 33, sec. 567b). Maryland ratified the Compact in 1939 (Chapter 320, Acts of 1939; Chapter 29, Acts of 1960). The Potomac Valley Conservancy District, which consists of all of the area drained by the Potomac River and its tributories, comes under jurisdiction of the Commission.
A nonregulatory agency, the Commission recommends ways to stop stream pollution, and conserve and wisely use water and associated land resources in the District through regional and interstate cooperation. The Commission is financed by appropriations from each member jurisdiction as well as by grants and contracts.
The Commission is composed of representatives of the five signatory jurisdictions: Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Participating in the Commission, the United States government is not a signatory member. Representatives from Maryland include the Governor and two residents of the Potomac River Drainage Basin, who are appointed by the Governor for two-year terms (Code Environment Article, secs. 5-303, 5-304).
COOPERATIVE WATER SUPPLY OPERATIONS SECTION
The Commission's Cooperative Water Supply Operations Section provides technical and managerial services to coordinate drought-related operations of the major public water supply utilities of Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia in the Washington Metropolitan Area (Water Supply Coordination Agreement of July 22, 1982).
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