by Jim Groves, Chair - Hyattsville Environmental Committee

The Hyattsville Environmental Committee will be hosting Mr. Connolly on September 30 at the Hyattsville Municipal building. Come hear the latest news and efforts about our local waterways, projects that are underway, including for Wells Run, and what you can do to become Lisa Simpson.

Remember the Simpsons episode with Blinky the three-eyed fish? The owner of the Springfield Nuclear Plant, Montgomery Burns, was dumping toxic waste into the waterways, which led to Blinky. But not to worry; Lisa was on the job and helped to expose the problems and get them fixed. Just a funny cartoon, right?

Unfortunately, it's not so far from the truth. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Resource Defense Council, the Anacostia Watershed Society and anyone who has ever taken a boat out at the Bladensburg Waterfront, our waterways receive more and more pollution each year. One indicator of their health is that over 40 percent of bottom-dwelling river fish in the Anacostia River are found with deformities, lesions and tumors. The US Geological Survey (USGS) found 80-100% of the bass in the South Branch of the Potomac River in 2004 were intersex. That would be male fish spawning eggs! Type in the words “Pollution Fish Potomac” into any browser and you will be sickened by what you read.

You probably drive over part of the problem every day. A good example is Wells Run, which rises among numerous parking lots in Hyattsville’s Ward 3 and flows through University Park and Riverdale Park. Indeed, all the little streams and outlets that you see in town, especially after it rains, run into the Northeast and Northwest Branches of the Anacostia -- which then joins the Potomac, flows to the Bay, and finally makes its way out into the Atlantic.

In short, what used to be a highly productive eco-system – the Anacostia Watershed – has now turned into a big suburban oil sewer and toilet. According to a 2008 report from the Anacostia River Watershed Restoration Plan (ARP) this is due to an “alteration of the natural landscape and an increase in impervious areas from population growth and regional economic development.” Translation: blame the ever-increasing square footage of roofs, driveways, roads, and parking lots. Furthermore, the increase in impervious areas has “disrupted the natural hydrologic cycle,” so that lots of water rushes quickly into gullies, streams, and rivers picking up pollutants left on the pavement, and does not soak into the ground.

The report goes on to say these changes have “affected the environmental health of the Anacostia River and its tributaries,” resulting in “a reduction in water quality through the transport of pollutants, a loss of riparian areas, and ultimately a degradation of the watershed’s ecological habitat.” You may want to consider if you really want to eat that fish out of our local waterways.

What’s worse, the report goes on, is that the sewer system and storm management system are so outdated that when there is a heavy rain, there is an overflow into the waterways of raw sewage. Scientists are seeing high levels of fecal coliform, i.e., bacteria generated mainly from human feces, in our area’s streams and rivers. That means it’s not even a good idea to touch our river water, much less swim in it as some hardy souls do.

Urbanization is not going to stop anytime soon. The “riparian buffer zones” – the natural filters around streams and the river – are deteriorating, being mowed down, and paved over. Thankfully there are some “Lisa Simpsons” in our area, like Jim Connolly, Executive Director from the Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS). Connolly’s non-profit has worked for two decades to clean-up and restore the local watershed. The Hyattsville Environmental Committee will be hosting Mr. Connolly on September 30 at the Hyattsville Municipal building. Come hear the latest news and efforts about our local waterways, projects that are underway, including for Wells Run, and what you can do to become Lisa Simpson.

For more information about the Hyattsville Environmental Committee, search for “HEC” on HyattsvilleWiki.com. Our meetings are open to all.