eekends
along the occasional narrow stretches of slack water found in the
Potomac and the Shenandoah and even the slim South Branch, where ski
boats roar up and down among apprehensive swimmers and unhappy anglers,
a classic instance of the kind of destruction of pleasure that occurs
when incompatible recreational pursuits are forced together by a want of
room for both.

The obvious answer is to locate and design the reservoirs needed to meet
Basin water demands in such a way that they can not only fulfill that
purpose but can provide needed recreation too. The major reservoirs
called for to achieve near-future supply purposes are few, but they can
be planned in places where they will get a maximum of these types of use
and where drawdown and other unesthetic effects will be minimal. And the
smaller headwater structures needed for water supply, flood control, and
other purposes throughout the Basin can quite often be designed to
function as first-rate recreational attractions too.

[Illustration]

Anglers vary widely in their tastes. Some like the pursuit of bass and
sunfish in reservoirs, and for them the upper estuary as well will be a
good place to go when it is suitably cleaned up. Some want wide salt
water and the lonely cry of gulls, and these the Basin can provide also.
Others prefer trout in highland streams, or smallmouth and catfish in
the big flowing rivers, and as the state of the waters grows better, so
too will all these kinds of fishing. On certain rivers and streams
particularly, the assured flow that is going to be needed to cope with
diffuse pollution will have a strong good effect on aquatic life and
sport fishing. The Monocacy and the South Fork of the Shenandoah are
examples. And in the Potomac falls and gorge below the metropolitan
water intakes, as was noted in Chapter III, assurance of a certain
minimum flow would be justifiable on esthetic and recreational grounds
alone, even aside from the need for it below in terms of water quality.

Hunters need more room outdoors than most people, because of their guns
and because they move about in search of game. Fortunately, the fall and
winter months when they function are times when relatively fewer other
people are out roaming. The public forests of the upper Basin are a main
resource for hunting now and in the future, and the kinds of public
access that are established on the estuary and the main rivers will have
to take hunters' interests into ac