Anacostia Riverkeeper on LinkedIn: Splash is one week away! We’re proud to be hosting the first permitted… (2024)

On June 29th, 2024 Anacostia Riverkeeper will be hostingSplash— the first permitted swim in the Anacostia River in over 50 years. With this momentous event approaching, we want to take a look back at all the milestones that helped us get here. This event is possible because Anacostia Riverkeeper, alongside many community and government partners, have made tremendous improvements to water quality in the river.Read our blog post below to learn how far the Anacostia has come towards being a swimmable river for all.

12

This Earth Day, we are pleased to release Anacostia Riverkeeper’s first annual Trash Mitigation Report!If you’ve attended one of our trash cleanups, you know we are serious about our categorization and weighing at each event. For the past ten years, Anacostia Riverkeeper has collected data on every piece of trash we remove from the Anacostia River. We've made strides to ensure all our data is easily accessible to the public.The report covers data from our Clean Waterways cleanups and Bandalong® Litter Traps, the impact of legislation on types of trash found, and the future focuses of our trash mitigation programs. Read the full report below.

24

2 Comments

We were honored to join US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s ELN Green Team for a webinar last month. Our Riverkeeper Trey and Water Quality Coordinator Petra shared about our programs and how EPA regulations impact our work. Watch the recorded webinar here: https://lnkd.in/d3kTuxJG

4

Training for new volunteer monitors is underway! We are proud to be entering our 6th year of monitoring recreational water quality in District waters, and our 5th year in Maryland tributaries across the Anacostia watershed.Are you interested in becoming a community scientist to protect our waterways? As a monitor, you will learn more about the Anacostia River's water quality and gain hands-on experience collecting water samples in the field. No experience necessary!We have several trainings coming up in April. Learn more on our website: https://lnkd.in/diYRqve6

10

Anacostia Riverkeeper is honored to announce that Tommy Wells, a dedicated advocate for environmental conservation and community engagement, has joined our board. With his wealth of experience and demonstrated commitment to improving urban waterways, Wells has been instrumental in protecting and restoring the Anacostia River watershed.“I have long admired the impactful work of Anacostia Riverkeeper and its partnership with the District government. It is with immense pride that I accept the invitation to join the board. This organization affords a unique opportunity for me to keep rallying support and resources to restore the Anacostia River.” -Tommy WellsWe welcome Tommy Wells to Anacostia Riverkeeper and look forward to working together to continue to protect and revitalize one of our region’s most precious natural resources — the Anacostia River.

85

2 Comments

We have a lot of momentum this year towards enacting recycling refunds, also called bottle bills, to help reduce trash pollution in the Anacostia River. In Maryland, HB 735/SB 642 has been introduced.Plastic bottles and other beverage containers account for over half of all litter we collect in the watershed. A bottle bill would have an immense impact on reducing that.What is a bottle bill? What would it look like in action? And how would it help the river?Read the full blog post linked below to learn all this and more!

11

New program coming soon! Our water quality managers, Maureen and Petra, met with Dr. Amy Sapkota and her team at University of Maryland’s CONSERVE lab last week to discuss our upcoming partnership conducting microbial source tracking (MST).MST will allow us to identify the types of E. coli bacteria at key sites and help us trace the sources of fecal contaminants in the Anacostia watershed. This will bring us and our community vital information to advocate for restoration projects that target our most vulnerable streams and sections of the Anacostia River.

30

2 Comments

We had a great Environmental Evening last night with Defensores de la Cuenca, Montgomery County Councilmember Natali Fani-González, and our MoCo Community! Sign up for our March 16 cleanup at the Marilyn J. Praisner Library here: https://lnkd.in/eyme33Cz

3

Last week, DC Government released the “Zero Waste DC Plan”, a multi-step pathway towards reaching the goals set in the Sustainable DC plan to reduce waste. Anacostia Riverkeeper is excited that DC has committed to taking action, including commitments to reducing single-use plastics in the District.Beverage containers are over 50% of all litter we collect in the watershed. Plastic bottles by themselves account for 60% by weight of all trash on the river and its tributaries. A bottle bill would drastically reduce this, bringing us closer to a healthy, clean Anacostia River for all. Stronger policies and enforcement on packaging, plastic retail bags, and tires are also essential to reducing waste in the District.The Zero Waste Plan sets the goal of a citywide solid waste diversion rate of 80% by 2040. To achieve this and the other targets laid out in the plan, the District will need to enact actionable, ambitious initiatives.We look forward to helping the District develop these as we all work towards our shared goal of a trash free Anacostia River.https://lnkd.in/dm7i_Kzb

14