On Thu, 24 May 2012 12:51:47 -0400,
gfre...@aol.com wrote:
>On Thu, 24 May 2012 10:34:39 -0400, John H. <
salmo...@gmail.com>
>The ones on the surface are not as big a problem as the ones that
>hover about a foot under water.
>
>We end up pulling a few out every day we are on the boat. I usually
>figure they blow in from shore if they are grocery or drug store bags,
>Ice bags come from disrespectful boaters along with most of the cans
>and bottles.
>
>I do think the Anacostia is dirtier than a lot of waterways, simply
>because all of the storm drains dump directly into the river. There is
>no retention area. You throw a beer can in the gutter on Wheeler Road
>and it ends up in the river.
>
>I am surprised the EPA has allowed this in the NPDES permit for so
>long. There is a separate article, just talking about trash in the
>Anacostia (4.10.1) The current permit has a goal of removing a bit
>over 100,000 pounds of trash from the run off into the Anacostia per
>year within the next 5 years. If past performance is any indication
>they won't make it.
>It does give you an idea of the scope of the problem.
>
>Oil off the roads and chemical dumping is another problem. Hickey Run
>in North East DC may be the worst offender because there used to be a
>lot of light industrial up there and they just dumped shit into the
>ground or in the gutters.
It's definitely a mess. There are some nice things to see up there, but I hate taking friends
upriver simply because it's such a mess.
I went to OCS here in 1967. At that time, falling into the Potomac during a river exercise earned
one a quick trip to the hospital for a tetanus shot. The dead fish along the banks were damn near
think enough to walk on. The difference between then and now is like night and day. I don't believe
a bass could have lived in the river back then. Now some big bass tournaments are held here. Cleanup
does work - but it hasn't helped the Anacostia much.