The murky Anacostia River has received a failing grade in an annual rating of its water quality, and experts say it will take the better part of a century before the historic waterway is once again swimmable. A new report by the Anacostia Watershed Society graded sections along the river based on visibility, bacteria from human and animal waste, oxygen levels, chlorophyll and vegetation. The Maryland section received a B-minus, and two sections along the District’s waterfront received a C. Anything below an A is a failing mark.
Julie Lawson, a spokeswoman for the society, said the water’s visibility has actually worsened in recent years.
“It’s increasing as we keep developing more,” she said. “The amount of sediment rushing into the river has increased as we get rid of the natural area that can absorb the rain more effectively and we put down more roads.”
Bacteria from human and animal waste are also seeping into the river because of leaky pipes in Maryland and D.C.’s antiquated sewage system that dumps overflow directly into the surrounding waters.
Anacostia Riverkeeper Mike Bolinder said solutions like water barrels or gardens along the shoreline designed to catch the waste before it flows into the water are helping. But the problem won’t fully be addressed until construction of an underground sewage tunnel big enough to fit a Metro car is complete.
The tunnel will be built underneath much of D.C.’s Anacostia shoreline and will end at the Blue Plains water treatment facility at the southern tip of the city. It will hold excess sewage water in the event of rain and slowly release it to the facility, keeping it from entering the river. The tunnel broke ground last year but is still roughly a decade away from completion.
The report said that effort and others — like a new Maryland law requiring its largest jurisdictions to create a dedicated fee to reduce polluted storm water runoff — will help improve the river quality. The District already has such a fee.
But at this rate, it could still take more 80 years for the river to be swimmable, as it was until the 1970s.
“It’s great that we’ve had some minor improvement,” Bolinder said. “But we’re 10 percent down a 10,000-mile path.”
