The Potomac River: What can we do to help?
The Potomac river runs through Washington D.C., Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia. It is 405 miles long and flows in to the Chesapeake Bay. Washington D.C. started using the Potomac river as their main source of drinking water in 1864 after building and opening the Washington aqueduct. (“Documentary History of American Water-works”)
Pollution began to become a problem for the Potomac river in the beginning of the 19th century as agriculture advanced. The main sources of pollution were sewage and chemicals that drained into the river. This drainage led to excessive nitrogen and phosphorus sediment build up in the river. Excessive nitrogen deposits led to dead zones in the river. A dead zone is …show more content…
One means of paying for it is thought taxes or other types of fees. For example, storm utility fees can be charged to individuals and businesses that own properties. These fees are paid to by property owners to municipalities in order to fund activities associated with managing storm water. Increasing taxes and fees, while possibly unpopular, is one means to pay for better infrastructure. There are also other potential options to pay for new infrastructure.
A third solution is to improve sewer infrastructure during redevelopment. Instead of taxing residents to pay for the upgrades, developers would be required to upgrade sewer systems during redevelopment of areas. For example, it is noted in the connection newspaper article, “Stop sewage in Potomac River? Just Takes Money”*, Oronoco is undergoing considerable redevelopment, and developers must agree to improve sewer infrastructure in order to have their projects approved. There are, however, issues with this approach that have been …show more content…
Early on, the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant was created and the Clean Water Act of 1972 was passed. The Clean Water Act was amended in1990. The amendment allowed new programs to be created to try and help combat acid rain. More recently, DC has implemented to the Clean River Project. In 2012, Maryland passed a law to help protect their local streams, rivers, and waterways by curbing runoff thereby reducing the level of runoff that reach the river, according to the website potomac.org*. This law made is possible for Maryland to collect a fee, based on the amount of paved or hardened surfaces on a property that collects pollution, from the community which they then used to fund local waterway clean-up efforts. (Potomac.org) These efforts have led to reduced pollution in the
The Potomac river runs through Washington D.C., Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia. It is 405 miles long and flows in to the Chesapeake Bay. Washington D.C. started using the Potomac river as their main source of drinking water in 1864 after building and opening the Washington aqueduct. (“Documentary History of American Water-works”)
Pollution began to become a problem for the Potomac river in the beginning of the 19th century as agriculture advanced. The main sources of pollution were sewage and chemicals that drained into the river. This drainage led to excessive nitrogen and phosphorus sediment build up in the river. Excessive nitrogen deposits led to dead zones in the river. A dead zone is …show more content…
One means of paying for it is thought taxes or other types of fees. For example, storm utility fees can be charged to individuals and businesses that own properties. These fees are paid to by property owners to municipalities in order to fund activities associated with managing storm water. Increasing taxes and fees, while possibly unpopular, is one means to pay for better infrastructure. There are also other potential options to pay for new infrastructure.
A third solution is to improve sewer infrastructure during redevelopment. Instead of taxing residents to pay for the upgrades, developers would be required to upgrade sewer systems during redevelopment of areas. For example, it is noted in the connection newspaper article, “Stop sewage in Potomac River? Just Takes Money”*, Oronoco is undergoing considerable redevelopment, and developers must agree to improve sewer infrastructure in order to have their projects approved. There are, however, issues with this approach that have been …show more content…
Early on, the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant was created and the Clean Water Act of 1972 was passed. The Clean Water Act was amended in1990. The amendment allowed new programs to be created to try and help combat acid rain. More recently, DC has implemented to the Clean River Project. In 2012, Maryland passed a law to help protect their local streams, rivers, and waterways by curbing runoff thereby reducing the level of runoff that reach the river, according to the website potomac.org*. This law made is possible for Maryland to collect a fee, based on the amount of paved or hardened surfaces on a property that collects pollution, from the community which they then used to fund local waterway clean-up efforts. (Potomac.org) These efforts have led to reduced pollution in the