((PKG))  HEALING THE ANACOSTIA RIVER   
((Banner:  Healing the Anacostia River))  
((Reporter/Camera:  Jeff Swicord)) 
((Map:  Washington DC))    
((Main characters:  1 male)) 
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jim Foster, Anacostia Watershed Society)) 
Rivers are so important to not only the habitat, animals and 
natural environment, but also to people.  Rivers are typically 
where we get our drinking water.   
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jim Foster, Anacostia Watershed Society)) 
I have been involved with environmental restoration work 
almost my whole life and all of thatÕs led me here having 
worked on a whole plethora of projects all across the world. 
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jim Foster, Anacostia Watershed Society)) 
I was motivated to come here and work on the Anacostia 
because I love clean water. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Jim Foster, Anacostia Watershed Society)) 
We are here at Eastern Powerboat Club, one of four boat 
clubs along the river.  These yacht clubs were basically 
African American yacht clubs.  The first one was Seafarers 
Yacht Club started by Eleanor Roosevelt.   
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Jim Foster, Anacostia Watershed Society)) 
We are an urban river.  WeÕre a small watershed.  
Watershed, of course, is that area of land within which all the 
rain that falls comes to a common outfall.   
((NATS:  Jim Foster)) 
How youÕre doing, man? 
((Jim Foster, Anacostia Watershed Society)) 
There is almost a million people that live in our watershed.  
And so, we have a much higher density.  WeÕve really 
pushed the limits on what we have done to this watershed.  
So, we are out of balance here, but we are working hard to 
bring it back. 
((NATS))
((Jim Foster, Anacostia Watershed Society))   
This three-box culvert is the combined sewer overflow for the 
Northeast Boundary Tunnel.  So, the district has what are 
called combined sewers.  And that means there is one pipe 
that carries the sewage and the storm water.  And so, we 
have been discharging billions of gallons of raw sewage into 
the river every time it rains. 
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jim Foster, Anacostia Watershed Society)) 
Our organization had an issue with that.
((NATS:  Jim Foster)) 
There is an osprey up in the tree there. 
((Jim Foster, Anacostia Watershed Society)) 
D.C. water today has been under a consent decree to stop 
those overflows.  
((NATS:  Jim Foster and Man in the passing boat)) 
Another day in paradise.
You got it.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jim Foster, Anacostia Watershed Society))
Masaya Maeda, who is Japanese, has been with us for 17 
years.  He is our water quality expert.  And so, every week 
he goes out on the river to collect very basic water chemistry 
data.  He has a volunteer helper, a woman named Maria.
We have been collecting that data for 15 years now.  So, we 
have some solid data, some trends.  We really use that to 
build a state of the river report card. 
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jim Foster, Anacostia Watershed Society))
Our mission is to make the river swimmable and fishable by 
2025.  So, whatÕs keeping us from swimming is purely high 
bacteria levels.  Where does the bacteria come from?  It 
comes from feces, from waste, human induced, goose, deer, 
avian, all these contribute bacteria to the river.  So, our river 
is impaired with nitrogen and phosphorus.  Why is that a 
problem?  Because it causes algae to grow prolifically and 
that algae then consumes oxygen in the water and then 
there is not enough oxygen for the fish.   
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((NATS:  Jim Foster)) 
They are with the park and they run that passenger boat.  
Not a lot of passengers in the boat right now. 
((NATS/MUSIC))  
((Jim Foster, Anacostia Watershed Society)) 
We have come so far in cleaning up this river, when people 
who havenÕt been here for 10, 15, 25 years, suddenly come 
back.  They are going, ŌThis isnÕt what we left.  This is, you 
know, not what we expected to see here.Ķ  And the first thing 
that has really started to come back are native freshwater 
mussels.  Mussels are also filter feeders.   
((NATS:  Jim Foster)) 
((Jim Foster, Anacostia Watershed Society)) 
See if I canÕt get this up high enough just to show you what 
we got here.  So, you can see these mussels are doing 
really well.  They went in about the size of your fingernail 
and this is a yearÕs worth of growth.  WeÕre working with the 
University of Maryland to see if they will filter micro-plastics 
out of the water as well.  And we are also interested in 
whether they will pick up and bind PCBs (Polychlorinated 
Biphenyl) from the river.
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Jim Foster, Anacostia Watershed Society))
So, the Anacostia River that I would like to see in ten years would 
be a place where thousands of people come throughout the 
weeks and summer months to get in the water.  For me, it is a 
very spiritual connection to not only the river and the banks and 
the areas around it, but to clean water.  Clean water is so critical 
to life as we know it and, I think, as more people come back and 
recognize that, they will appreciate and admire and honor the 
river. 
((NATS/MUSIC))