Water quality in the Anacostia River (Washington, DC) is improving but it's still not safe for swimming. From what I've read, there's a possibility it might be deemed clean enough for swimming by 2025, and maybe sooner. The DC Department of Energy & Environment is conducting a survey to determine how people would like to be able to use the river in the future (including being able to swim in it). You don't have to be a DC resident to respond to the survey. I'm hoping that if enough people express an interest in swimming in the river that government officials will take this into account in their plans for the river, and then there will finally be a place to swim in open water in the nation's capital city (maybe we can even have a USMS-sanctioned race in it!). www.surveymonkey.com/.../ANACOSTIA-RIVER-USE
Laudable, but not so simple as saying yes we would like to clean it up. I live near the Mohawk River in upstate NY and we've been trying to get it swimmable for decades. From my house, I can see people in kayaks, canoes, jet skis, even water skis, but never swimming. There is an organization called Riverkeeper with a bunch of volunteers that test the waters at regular intervals. The map below shows how the water quality changes from month to month. Much of it is swim-safe as it gets farther from any city, but that can turn on a dime. The cities along the Mohawk are very old with ancient storm drain systems, as I suspect they may be in MD & DC. After any heavy rain, the storm sewer overflows can make it unacceptable again in a flash. Luckily, there is no shortage of good lakes in the area.
www.riverkeeper.org/.../
Laudable, but not so simple as saying yes we would like to clean it up. I live near the Mohawk River in upstate NY and we've been trying to get it swimmable for decades. From my house, I can see people in kayaks, canoes, jet skis, even water skis, but never swimming. There is an organization called Riverkeeper with a bunch of volunteers that test the waters at regular intervals. The map below shows how the water quality changes from month to month. Much of it is swim-safe as it gets farther from any city, but that can turn on a dime. The cities along the Mohawk are very old with ancient storm drain systems, as I suspect they may be in MD & DC. After any heavy rain, the storm sewer overflows can make it unacceptable again in a flash. Luckily, there is no shortage of good lakes in the area.
www.riverkeeper.org/.../
