Virginia Room, Fairfax County Public Library

In mid-1974, announcements were made almost simultaneously by the Fairfax County Water Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that Catoctin Creek was a prime candidate for a dam and reservoir impounding water for a 7-day supply for the Washington, DC area during drought periods. This plan would have flooded more than 3,000 acres of Loudoun County, including the hamlet of Taylorstown, VA and part of Waterford, VA. Residents of this area organized the Catoctin Valley Defense Alliance to fight the project. Their strategies included 1) Achieving "scenic river" designation for Catoctin Creek 2) Having Taylorstown listed on the National Register of Historic Places 3) Getting an amendment to Virginia's eminent domain statute preventing one jurisdiction from obtaining water supply from a neighboring jurisdiction without permission of the affected jurisdiction 4) A public relations campaign to bring attention to this action.

The first part of the plan was to get the Commonwealth of Virginia to name Catoctin Creek a scenic river; this action would provide protection by the state through the Commission on Outdoor Recreation. The County of Loudoun decided to seek this status for both Goose Creek and Catoctin Creek and to concentrate on Goose Creek first. The Catoctin Valley Defense Alliance, recognizing that, because of the amount of work necessary to obtain this status, it was highly unlikely that Loudoun County would get two creeks named in the same year, approached the Commission and offered to do much of the work necessary to achieve this designation for Catoctin Creek. The Piedmont Environmental Council prepared the technical report and members of the Alliance obtained the necessary signatures of two-thirds of the affected landowners, and from the owners of two-thirds of the riparian land. With this preparatory work done, a bill to declare Catoctin Creek a scenic river was introduced into the Virginia General Assembly by Senator Charles Waddell and was passed. The effect of this action was twofold: 1) No obstruction can be built on this stream without legislative approval 2) It gave notice to the Army Corps of Engineers that the State of Virginia would not passively let them take whatever action they wished.

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