Restoration of the Anacostia River

Now that President Obama has taken office, he is hearing lots of ideas from those of us here in DC about what we'd like to see the new President and his team change.  I'd like to suggest one idea that is close to his new home, and would help raise the image of the U.S. across the world, while benefiting a constituency that voted for President Obama at a higher rate than any other group I can think of - the people of DC.  I'd like to see President Obama and his EPA Administrator, Lisa Jackson, announce a major watershed-wide effort to restore the Anacostia River.  There are lots of rivers that need revival, but this is a restoration effort that could demonstrate significant progress in the next 4 (or at least 8) years and would be a visible sign of change in DC to the millions of foreign dignitaries, schoolchildren, and other tourists that visit the city every year. 

I'm not sure whether either President Obama or Administrator Jackson has had the opportunity to go our on the Anacostia River, but I urge them to do so, and I know that it will make a big impression for two reasons:  First, the Anacostia River is almost completely surrounded by nature - forests, wetlands, parks, and other open space.  For most of the length of the river, you can't see any buildings, roads, or other signs of civilization even though you are in the heart of DC.  Instead, you see great blue herons, bald eagles, snakes, turtles, ducks, and kingfishers - an amazing array of wildlife for an urban river.  But it will also make an impression because the water is so filthy.  It is a muddy brown, covered with an oily sheen and floating trash.  And it smells really bad after it rains because of the raw sewage that flows into it after even a light rainfall.  So, if the water were just cleaned up, we would have a virtual oasis from the built environment right in the heart of the nation's capital.

But this river can be cleaned up.  The watershed is not large - it is contained entirely within Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland and DC.  There is also very little ongoing industrial pollution in the river.  There are contaminated sediments in the bottom of the river, but dredging or capping (or maybe a little of both) could pretty much take care of that problem. 

The ongoing pollution into the river comes from people - from sewage and from stormwater from the built environment.  We now know how to neutralize both of these sources of pollution using a variety of approaches from traditional sewage treatment plants, underground storage tunnels for the sewage and stormwater mix that flows through the sewers when it rains, building rain gardens and green roofs, to getting people to plant native plants instead of lawns and put trash in waste receptacles or recycling bins instead of into the street (where it washes into the river when it rains). 

Both DC and Maryland are making progress in addressing the sources of pollution that contaminate the river.  DC recently passed legislation to help pay for stormwater reduction that will create incentives for property owners to contribute to the solution by minimizing pavement and putting in their own rain barrels, rain gardens, or green roofs.  DC Water and Sewer Authority has already reduced the amount of raw sewage that goes into the waterways by 40% just by putting in place improvements to use the existing sewer pipes, pumps and treatment capacity more effectively.  Maryland is now drafting regulations to implement a law that would require developments to put effective stormwater controls in place as they are being built.  

These efforts have the potential to make a significant difference in the health of the river, but they aren't enough.  We need a major influx of federal funds to help pay for the sewage storage tunnels, the cleanup of the contaminated sediment, and retrofitting the 40% of the District that is owned by the federal government so that it captures and retains stormwater pollution.  If we could get those three things to happen and get the residents of the watershed mobilized to help with the clean up, we could see the biggest turnaround in an urban river since the revival of the Hudson.  That's the kind of change I'd like to see in DC.