Potomac Leads Most Endangered Rivers List

By John Cronin

The Potomac River topped the list of most endangered rivers in the nation, published by American Rivers on April 15.  The Potomac’s condition epitomizes the struggle for success in which the 1972 Clean Water Act is still engaged on its 40th anniversary. Flowing through the heart of Washington DC just two miles from Capitol Hill, a source of drinking water for Congress, the Potomac has been the shame of the nation since at least 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson declared it “a national disgrace.”

A 2010 evaluation of the Potomac River by the University of Maryland gave the river a “D” as part of its overall evaluation of the Chesapeake Bay system, which earned a “C-”. There is no indication that the river’s quality has improved since. The Potomac’s headwaters are in  Fairfax Stone, West Virginia. From there it runs 383 miles to Point Lookout, Maryland. Its watershed encompasses 14,670 square miles, and also includes Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

American Rivers describes the Potomac’s condition:

The Potomac is the ‘nation’s river,’ rich in culture and history and the lifeblood of our nation’s capital. The river provides drinking water to more than five million people and offers abundant opportunities for recreation. However, the Potomac is threatened by agricultural and urban pollution . . .Pollution in the Potomac threatens drinking water supplies, kills fish, and poses a health risk to people who swim, fish, and boat on the river.

American Rivers gets it right when it says that rollbacks to the Clean Water Act will make matters worse on the Potomac and other waters. But does that mean the law as currently written has the right stuff to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the nation’s waters,” as Section 101 of the Act aspires to do?  =>  

The river that runs through the nation’s capital is still a threat to people and fish after forty years of Clean Water Act rule,  forty-seven years after earning negative presidential notice, and despite the unique federal jurisdiction the president and Congress wield over Washington DC itself. The Potomac is not alone. Fish advisories are an accepted national reality. Swimming advisories will begin with summer. And 19 1/2 million Americans are made ill by drinking water each year.

It is time to launch a national conversation about whether the Clean Water Act as written can still achieve its original mission.  That conversation should look particularly at incentives to spark innovation — advancements in technology, management and practices — a message reiterated by the Office of the Director of Intelligence with regard to global water issues.  By now, water pollution should be a thing of the past, as intended by Senator Edmund Muskie, the architect of the 1972 Clean Water Act. Meanwhile, the current law must be protected from being weakened.

To learn more about the attack on the CWA by S. 2245/H.R. 4965 , click HERE. Follow the American Rivers blog HERE.

The full endangered rivers list follows.

Click map for American Rivers site.

#1: Potomac River (MD, VA, PA, WV, DC)
Threat: Pollution
At stake: Clean water and public health

#2: Green River (WY, UT, CO) 
Threat: Water withdrawals
At stake: Recreation opportunities and fish and wildlife habitat

#3: Chattahoochee River (GA) 
Threat: New dams and reservoirs
At stake: Clean water and healthy fisheries

#4: Missouri River (IA, KS, MO, MT, NE, ND, SD, WY) 
Threat: Outdated flood management
At stake: Public safety

#5: Hoback River (WY) 
Threat: Natural gas development
At stake: Clean water and world-class fish and wildlife

#6: Grand River (OH) 
Threat: Natural gas development
At stake: Clean water and public health

#7: South Fork Skykomish River (WA) 
Threat: New dam
At stake: Habitat and recreation

#8: Crystal River (CO) 
Threat: Dams and water diversions
At stake: Fish, wildlife, and recreation

#9: Coal River (WV) 
Threat: Mountaintop removal coal mining
At stake: Clean water and public health

#10: Kansas River (KS) 
Threat: Sand and gravel dredging
At stake: Public health and wildlife habitat