DOEE monitoring Soapstone Creek surface water. (2015 photo courtesy Julia Robey Christian, DOEE)
Rock Creek. The Anacostia. The Potomac. If you had to guess which of these waterways is least likely to be safe for swimmers on a given day (if swimming in DC were legal, that is), which would you choose?
If you said Rock Creek, you’d be right. Recent articles in DCist and The Washington Post highlighted weekly water quality reports from Anacostia Riverkeeper, a group that seeks to protect and restore the Anacostia rivershed. DCist reports “sites in Rock Creek fail bacteria level tests almost every week.”
The Post article follows Bill Sittig, an Anacostia Riverkeeper volunteer and former ANC 3F commissioner, as he collects samples from the Melvin Hazen Run.
Too hot for Washingtoniana: A ground-level storefront at 4340 Connecticut Avenue has been the temporary home of the DC Public Library for the past eleven months. It has been closed, for the most part, for the past two. DCist digs into why: heat waves and an HVAC system that couldn’t handle them. (Washingtoniana reopened last week after repairs.)
The button says “push to walk,” so why don’t the cars stop? WAMU answers a listener question, and since its HQ is at Connecticut and Windom Place, so you just know that at least some of the audio is coming from a crossing nearby.
Stopping speeding on Beach Drive: Smoother pavement from the three-year project has brought with it speedier traffic. To calm things down, crews have installed “speed tables” near Broad Branch Road and a couple of other intersections. Read WTOP’s coverage or check out the Post.
How to catch a spy: Forest Hills-based documentary filmmaker Aviva Kempner spoke to the Post in June about “The Spy Behind Home Plate,” her film on Washington Senators catcher and OSS agent Moe Berg. Her subject was an elusive one even for Kempner, whom the Post describes as “a relentless digger.”
Robbie Kaplan says
Can you give more information about Aviva Kempner and her new film “The Spy Behind The Plate.”
Thanks can’t wait
FHC says
Excellent comment – we should have linked to the film above. Here’s the official site: http://spybehindhomeplate.org/
Green Eyeshades says
The Anacostia Riverkeepers are in the news again. They and two other environmental groups just won a major case against the EPA. The U.S. District Court here in DC just decided Monday night (Aug. 12) that the EPA allowed illegal amounts of E. coli contamination in DC’s waterways.
The case is relevant to ongoing attempts to clean up Rock Creek and its tributaries, including Soapstone Creek. The news coverage in DCist dot com reveals a shocking fact: DC Water was siding with the EPA and arguing in favor of the EPA’s E. coli rules. But the court ruled that EPA’s rules were ilegal, so DC Water is on the losing side.
Here is how the DCist report begins:
“Federal and city regulators may have to create entirely new regulations for E. coli levels in D.C.’s waterways after a U.S. District Court on Monday night determined that the current standards violate the Clean Water Act, as well as the District’s own water quality laws.
“The judge vacated D.C.’s old regulations on the basis that the Environmental Protection Agency failed to approve them in accordance with federal and local laws. The new standards must be set up within the year, and they must be stringent enough to allow for safe kayaking, canoeing, and fishing in D.C.’s rivers and tributaries, according to Seth Johnson, a lawyer for Earth Justice, which represented the plaintiffs in the case.
“The lawsuit against the EPA was filed in 2016 on behalf of three environmental groups: Anacostia Riverkeeper, the Kingman Park Civic Association, and the Potomac Riverkeeper Network. As the case got underway, DC Water interceded as a defendant, arguing on the EPA’s side.”
https://dcist.com/story/19/08/13/court-rules-that-d-c-needs-new-regulations-governing-er-e-coli-in-our-waterways/