rnative would be to shape a rigid overall plan for the
Basin prescribing definite solutions, feasible in terms of tried and
true technology, for all its problems that exist today and are expected
to materialize in the future, and then to seek authorization and funds
to put the plan into effect. This procedure has disadvantages already
noted in detail in this report. It makes large irreversible decisions
that future generations, stuck with the results, may find less than
totally attractive, especially since they very probably will have better
ways of doing things. It pins itself to fallible assumptions about those
future generations, and must be formed in terms of present laws and
policies, which are not always ideal. Physically, a plan of this kind
could be worked out that would function with reasonable efficiency, at
least in water matters, for there is nothing primitive about today's
technology. But esthetically it would leave much to be desired even by
present standards, and politically, furthermore, its very wholeness and
rigidity would mean that it would have to be sold as a complete package
or else be doomed to fragmentation, which would lead to much the same
sort of piecemeal expedient development as no plan at all. Quite aside
from the budgetary difficulties of the moment, the Potomac Basin's
political complexity makes whole acceptance and implementation of such a
plan extremely doubtful.

The question of an agency

If flexible coordinative planning's advantages for a place like the
Potomac Basin are recognized, and it is accepted as the most reasonable
and hopeful way to approach problems there, the question arises as to
what kind of agency is best suited to carry it forward and to act on it.
Besides certain unique agencies like the Tennessee Valley Authority
several types of institutions are available that can be oriented toward
a whole interstate river basin.

An _interstate compact_ is a detailed agreement between two or more
States to act toward a common specific goal. It needs the approval of
Congress, but the Federal government usually takes no formal part in the
compact commission's activities, nor are Federal activities in the basin
subject to compact commission control. A _Federal-interstate compact_,
on the other hand, does have Federal participation and provides for some
limitation on Federal freedom to act on basin problems without compact
commission consent. Compact commissions under either of