Resetting the Clock on Infrastructure

The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) was established in 1918, the brainchild of public health officials and that era’s version of “civic activists.” A bond issue passed that year helped fund the system’s start and WSSC began acquiring existing water and sewerage systems within its service area – 95 square miles and 30,000 people. As the population grew, so did WSSC, with delivery of more water to meet its communities’ needs. Over the years, small existing community systems, some run by municipalities and others privately operated by land companies, were acquired and eventually integrated into the WSSC regional system. Reservoir facilities and dams were constructed, and new sections were added to the water supply distribution network to serve growing communities in the WSSC territory. Today, WSSC’s average daily potable water use in suburban Maryland is 167 million gallons.