D.C. CONTINUES GREEN STREAK WITH HELP FROM LOCAL ORGS When associating D.C. with a color, what comes to mind? Probably red: the color of the icons on the District’s flag, which also adorns the Capitals, Nationals and Wizards in some shade or fashion. Or perhaps you think of navy blue: a color, like red, that is so intimately tied with the national flag. Maybe it’s some other color: gray because of the Brutalist architecture, brown because of the D.C.’s Chocolate City moniker, or burgundy and gold for the football diehards. Another acceptable answer is green. In October 2019, WalletHub published a study that revealed D.C. as the No. 4 ranked green city in America, to no surprise. The city is first among large cities in LEED-certified projects and square footage and first among large cities in Energy Star certified buildings and square footage, on a per capita basis, according to the city’s website. The District has also made restoring the Anacostia River to swimmable by 2030 a priority and promoted an initiative to move 80 percent of all waste away from incineration and landfills. The city isn’t alone in its action and often enables organizations like the Anacostia Riverkeeper, Anacostia Watershed Society and others to perform studies, conduct trials and find solutions. “We’re in a very nonprofit rich environment in D.C.,” says Trey Sherard, outreach coordinator and staff biologist with the Anacostia Riverkeeper. The Anacostia Riverkeeper is part of the international Waterkeeper Alliance and seeks to protect and restore the Anacostia River for all those who work, live and play near the watershed. This involves volunteer work, deploying green infrastructure and providing educational resources. According to its website, the main goal is to restore the river as a fishable and swimmable resource for the people in the DMV. You can technically fish there now, although you’d be facing potential health risks if you ate the fish. Swimming is not allowed. “When we say fishable, we mean it’s safe to eat what you’re catching without worrying about how many ounces is safe,” Sherard says. “We can’t just work on conservation for conservation’s sake; we want to conserve it for the fish, birds, turtles and all the people who use it. ” Successes for the Riverkeeper include managing waste via large trash traps. Sherard says there are four in the District, with more to come. Shrinking the amount of refuse, specifically plastic which accounts for 60 percent of the waste caught in said traps, is a huge focal point for all organizations on the river. Another on the front lines, fighting for zero waste as a whole is the D.C. chapter of the Sierra Club. Photo courtesy of Anacostia Watershed Society.
WORDS BY TRENT JOHNSON
“Waste reduction efforts include meeting with the city council and looking at efficient ways to reduce waste and how to meet the city’s goals,” says Catherine Plume, the chapter chair. “Right now we’re at about 20-25 percent on our diversion rate. That was preCovid, so how are we going to get to 80 percent by 2032? We’ve had some resistance to the ideas, and that can be a source of frustration. [But] the District and the mayor recognize these issues.” The Sierra Club is a national organization dating back to 1892, with a focus on large scale preservation on a national and local level. With 3.8 million volunteers nationwide, the four primary campaigns in D.C. include: clean energy, clean water, smart growth and the aforementioned zero waste. Anyone can get involved and volunteer with the committees, which is active in the city at events, protests and in efforts to alter policy. “The focus is on D.C. issues,” she says. “ There are tons of opportunities to participate with any of our four committees, we do things in river tributary clean ups, we do boat trips on the Anacostia and our zero waste committee helps organizers at a lot of events to help sort waste into compost and recycle.” Clean(er) water is also a focus of the Anacostia Watershed Society, which has began reintroducing mussels into the river for purification in 2015. Through surveys to understand which specific mussel communities could thrive in the river’s habitat, the team at the society began propagating them into the Anacostia. “We started the first propagation project in August 2018, where we put them in floating baskets,” says Jorge A. Bogantes Montero, natural resources specialist. “We had eight different sites, including Kingman Lake. The idea is to introduce 35,000 over the length of the project.” One adult mussel can filter 10-20 gallons of water per day, which has significant benefits to the river’s biofiltration, Montero says. Because of the positive effect these mussels are having on the Anacostia so far, and the promise of more shortly, the Watershed Society is pushing a goal of swimmability by 2025, five years ahead of the city’s goal of 2030. “We’re being a little more ambitious, because we do monitoring every year and we’ve seen a constant increase in the conditions in terms of clarity,” Montero says. “The Anacostia River tunnels really changed the game, because it’s already improving the river system a lot.” With an improved river and better waste management, places DISTRICT FRAY | 51
