Potomac Riverkeeper chief Ed Merrifield leads a nonprofit environmental group dedicated to reversing years of pollution and restoring water quality to the Potomac and its tributaries. A former chiropractor, Merrifield became the group’s executive director in 2003 and has since been confronted by environmental woes on the waterways, including large-scale fish die-offs and the emergence of transgender, or “intersex,” fish.
Which issues are you spending most of your time on these days?
There are 14,000 square miles [of watershed], and how do we get people to understand and care? … Where I spend my time these days, other than the usual trying to stop the polluters as best we can, is trying to get people to understand that the same water that’s coming into our drinking water intakes has chemicals that are turning many of our male fish into having female characteristics.
How strong is Virginia‘s network of river-keeper groups?
We have about 14 or 15 water keepers in the Bay watershed … and we are pretty tight. … We are involved all together working on some storm-water issues we’re just getting started on.
How much time do you spend on the water versus behind a desk?
I get out on the water, I would say, once a week. That’s about all it can be.
With the kills, the intersex fish and the fact that the Chesapeake won’t meet the 2010 cleanup deadline, does this job get overwhelming?
We haven’t met the 1985 Clean Water Act guidelines; you don’t have to go up to 2010 … that can be overwhelming. But I think it’s more than a good fight, because in this particular kind of job, we can tell that the changes we make – any kind of enforcement action, or we get citizens involved – we can tell just how we’re doing.
