Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Volunteers Clean Anacostia Watershed

Volunteers Clean Anacostia Watershed

The Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS) hosted its annual Earth Day Cleanup April 22, with volunteers collecting garbage in the Anacostia River watershed. 

Over 40 corporate, university and family groups from around the DMV picked up trash at over 33 sites around the watershed in Maryland and Eastern Washington, D.C. Participants fished recyclable plastic beverage containers, car parts and tires, among other waste, out of the Anacostia. 

The AWS, a local nonprofit that aims to reduce pollution in the Anacostia River, has been addressing the environmental needs of the river and its watershed communities since 1989. Contamination, sewage overflows and littering have historically polluted the Anacostia.

The Anacostia River stretches 8.7 miles from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. to the Potomac River. Its watershed covers around 176 square miles of Montgomery County and Prince George’s County in Maryland, as well as most of eastern D.C. 

Emily Conrad, the Anacostia Watershed Society’s director of development, said that the society partnered with companies such as the utilities company Pepco, health care company Kaiser Permanente and Starbucks Coffee for this year’s cleanup. 

“Our annual Earth Day Clean-up is our largest volunteer event of the year, and through the event, we partner with dozens of community organizations, corporate sponsors, and government agencies,” Conrad wrote to The Hoya.

At the 2022 Earth Day cleanup, over 1,300 volunteers pulled out 20.4 tons of trash, including 278 tires, at 34 sites throughout D.C., Prince George’s County and Montgomery County. The AWS expects similar statistics this year.

Ariel Trahan, the AWS’s director of river restoration programs, said the event was difficult to coordinate because it involved more than 40 individual groups simultaneously collecting refuse from different parts of the watershed. The AWS provides supplies for each volunteer and works with waste management companies to remove trash and recycling.

“Lots of planning and coordination goes into the event as we work with many different site leaders and community partners at sites across the watershed,” Trahan wrote to The Hoya.

Conrad said the event brought together community members with many participants who volunteer annually. 

“It is an annual tradition for a lot of families, community groups, and companies to participate, and it’s amazing to talk to folks who have been volunteering at this event for more than a decade,” Conrad wrote. “My favorite part of the event each year is going to a lot of sites and seeing volunteers wearing event shirts from so many previous Earth Day clean-ups.”

Valerie Mallon (CAS ’24) the president of Georgetown University Eco Consultants, a student consulting club that advises local businesses on their environmental impacts, said cleaner water is crucial for businesses and communities near the Anacostia.

“The water can actually be used as a sustainable alternative for businesses that would use the water,” Mallon told The Hoya. “And making sure that it’s clean is one of the most important factors and that has everything to do with whether the species, both flora and fauna, are taken care of.”

The Anacostia has gradually become cleaner due to D.C. government funding toward adding litter control systems and mussels, which are filter-feeding shellfish that can purify water to the river. In its 2022 State of the River report card, the AWS found positive long-term trends in reduced levels of fecal bacteria, increased water clarity and increased vegetation. 

The amount of trash volunteers have collected has decreased as the river has become cleaner, according to Conrad.

“Each year, there seems to be less trash to pick up, which is a positive sign of the river’s rebounding health,” Conrad wrote.

Mallon said effectively cleaning up the Anacostia requires addressing the root causes of pollution, such as climate change.

“I think that the next steps in taking care and improving our environment have everything to do with how we define sustainability,” Mallon said. “Species becoming extinct, communities being polluted, waste piling up nationally and internationally, that often just means that we’re addressing it too late.”

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