The Anacostia River

The Anacostia has a history. It used to be a deepwater port before the river became too shallow due to siltation. It was also on the route of the British when they sacked Washington during the War of 1812. Also, one of its creeks (Dueling Creek) was the site of duels by Washingtonians who didn't get along with each other.

The Anacostia River is beautiful and ugly at the same time. If I don't look at the trash in the river, then I see what the river could become. Further, I have never seen such concentrations of herons, egrets, and other shore birds. There has also been a pair of nesting bald eagles. Especially after a rain, however, the river tends to be filled with the detritus of parking lots and storm drains that exist in its watershed.

The main stem of the Anacostia River is only 8 miles long, flowing from Bladensburg, Maryland into the Potomac River at the southeast tip of the District of Columbia. The Anacostia’s watershed (the network of streams that lead to the river) covers 176 square miles, about 5/6 of which lies in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland.

The Anacostia runs through the heart of the nation’s capital, separating (geographically and symbolically) one-third of the District from the rest of the city. The river is badly polluted. It has been officially designated one of the three toxic rivers flowing into the Chesapeake Bay and has been called one of the most endangered rivers in America.

Today, the Anacostia remains beset by a host of major and interrelated conditions:

An antiquated combined sewer system in the District of Columbia that discharges millions of tons of raw sewage when it rains;
Poorly managed stormwater runoff and trash in much of the watershed;
Years of neglect and environmentally destructive flood-prevention “improvements”; and
A widespread lack of public connection to – and appreciation for – this precious and unique natural resource.

The Anacostia should be used, visited, and then revisited by kayakers and canoeists. If people came to know it for all its warts, then maybe "sows ear" will be turned into a "silk purse."

While there are at least three soft landings, I use two of them. One is at the bottom of the 11th street bridge in Southeast Washington, and the other is at the newly constructed Bladensburg Town Port.