REPORTS OF THE PANEL CHAIRMEN 645 



Water and Waterfronts 



The Chairman Mr. CLAY. Our panel has found "gook" as well as 

 "books" in running brooks. 



Convictions arise from that discovery. It was the conviction of the 

 Panel on Water and Waterfronts that : 



1 . We must reverse the historic tendency to use watercourses pri- 

 marily for transportation and to carrying of wastes, and plan for their 

 protection and development to enhance human life and the quality of 

 man's environment. 



2. We must protect and improve entire river basins and not merely 

 a few isolated sites. 



3. "Stream renewal" from end to end, treating water and contrib- 

 utory lands in all their interdependent aspects, should be adopted as 

 a national policy comparable in breadth of concept to urban renewal. 



4. The price of water-related lands is rising; now is the time to 

 buy, lease, and protect them on a crash basis. 



5. The historic American overemphasis on economic costs and 

 benefits in building water control structures should be reversed. We 

 must insist on beauty as one of the essential elements in water-related 

 planning. 



The panel believes that these objectives can be accomplished. We 

 have many suggestions for improved ways of acquiring and protect- 

 ing waterfront lands, for better urban planning and waterfront de- 

 sign, for building beauty into the process of water resource develop- 

 ment, and for strengthening water pollution control. 



We recommend that outstanding water areas and watercourses in 

 the United States, such as San Francisco Bay, Lake Tahoe, and the 

 sources of major rivers be designated national scenic and recreational 

 landmarks; and that all decisions affecting their development be re- 

 viewed by a Presidentially appointed board of citizens concerned 

 with the quality of the total environment involved. All Federal plans 

 for water resource development should be reviewed by this board. 



Public and private protection should be extended to all natural 

 shorelines by acquisition, zoning, easements, options, and other meas- 

 ures, now. As a beginning, the source of the Potomac this great 

 historic river flowing through the National Capital should be 

 quickly identified and permanently protected. Private owners of 

 property should be encouraged in every way to collaborate with 

 public and private agencies, as is being done in protecting the Mount 



