The Anacostia is Improving

Almost 30 years ago, the first Anacostia stormwater project was completed. Now, there are well over 9,000 completed projects in the watershed! The restoration of the Anacostia watershed continues as a complex, long-term, expensive, yet necessary task.

Trash reduction

Trash reduction efforts from clean ups and trash traps, such as the one shown above, have helped to remove 732 tons of trash from the Anacostia watershed from 2014-2019! Learn more.

fish population improvement

The Anacostia watershed provides a home to 77 species of fish species! From 2011 to 2019, the percentage of sites that were considered poor for fish dropped from 30% to just 12%! Learn More.

sediment reduction

In 2019, 3,616 tons of sediment were removed from the Anacostia. Clean, clear water is important to keep the river cool and healthy! Learn More.

Stream Restoration

32 miles of stream restoration work has been completed in the watershed as of 2019. Stream restoration improves the environmental health of a river or stream, and supports biodiversity, recreation, flood management and erosion control.

nutrient reduction

Nutrients are normally a good thing when it comes to our health, but too many nutrients can be toxic to us. The same is true for the natural environment. Nitrogen and phosphorous are nutrients we often add to the soil as fertilizer to help plants grow. Farmers use them on crops and residents use them on their lawns. In heavy rain events, any nutrients that have been added to the land that haven’t been taken in by the soil wash into local waters that feed the Anacostia. These excess nutrients then cause too many algae to grow. The excess algae block sunlight from reaching the living things in the river and they suffer or die. So reducing the amount of nutrients that enter the river is an important way we keep the river healthy. 59,253 pounds of nutrients from fertilizer were removed from the Anacostia and its tributaries in 2019. This includes 46,846 pounds of nitrogen and 12,407 pounds of phosphorus!

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