The Potomac River’s dirty reputation is apparently getting worse. The nonprofit that monitors the river’s health on Thursday downgraded the waterway from its D-plus ranking in 2007 to a D.
The Potomac Conservancy’s “State of the Nation’s River” report says the river faces pollution from both ends, with forest loss upstream and industrial development downstream.
The key to the Potomac’s pollution problem is runoff, according to conservancy spokeswoman Anne Sundermann. The population around the river’s basin in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania continues to grow. More residents means increased sewage system overflow that often occurs following heavy rains. Expanding infrastructure, such as widening roads, also leads to faster runoff.
The conservancy has recommended building narrower roads made of more porous material that will slow down and soak up runoff.
However, porous roads are usually limited to parking lots and aren’t applicable to major highways. According to Richard Schreck, executive vice president of the Virginia Asphalt Association, porous pavement can’t handle heavy burden on highways. Also, while it temporarily stores water, this becomes an issue if the water freezes and cracks the pavement, Schreck said.
The Potomac supplies the majority of the D.C. area’s drinking water. And that water does comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act, the conservancy said. However, because of an old filtration system, dangerous chemicals still linger, Sundermann said.
Among the pollutants found in D.C. water are endocrine-disrupting compounds. These compounds have been linked to the increase in intersex fish found in the Potomac, which have both male and female characteristics.
The current filtration system rids many contaminants, but not EDCs. According to the Potomac Conservancy’s Sundermann, there is evidence that EDCs also cause problems in humans. Still, Sundermann said that because fish are constantly living and breathing in water, their level of exposure is much different than humans’.
“We do not know exactly what level of exposure causes harmful effects to human health, but we do know that exposure to endocrine-disrupting compounds causes problems,” Sundermann said.
Howard County resident Andrea Willis works in the District — in an office overlooking the Potomac.
“It’s a shame,” she said of the river’s falling grade. “It’s such a great natural resource. but we should be doing more.
“But with all the budget woes and people hungry, I don’t know which I’d choose to the spend the resources on.”
Jessica Strieter-Elting grew up in D.C. as part of a military family. She, too, acknowledged the federal budget woes and cuts, saying the Potomac has been put on the back burner.
“I do not swim in it,” Strieter-Elting said. “I boat in it, on occasion, but I try to stay out of it. When I was a kid, I swam in it, but that was a long time ago.”
