50 Years Later: Anacostia River to Welcome Swimmers

On July 8, swimmers will enter the water of the Anacostia River legally and safely for the first time in 50 years for an event called Splash, organized by the nonprofit Anacostia Riverkeeper. While the river isn’t fully open to the public for swimming yet, the occasion is a major milestone on a decades-long effort to clean up the river by removing sewage and other pollutants from the watershed.

“Water entry became illegal in 1971 after water quality safety concerns were attributed to sewage overflow, organizers said. Since then, local advocacy groups have worked to restore the cleanup of the river,” reports Jonathan Taylor in a news article announcing the historic event and accomplishment. “In the 50 years, Anacostia Riverkeeper said the sewage bacteria has decreased by 80% in key recreation sites.”

Swimming is still illegal in the rest of the river and the rest of the year, but the Splash event could be another step toward the goal of completely reopening the river to swimmers. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in December 2022 launched a study into whether the conditions of the Potomac River, and its tributary the Anacostia, allow for safe swimming.

Additional coverage of the Splash event is available from WUSA.

Previous Planetizen coverage of the Anacostia River cleanup effort:

• Want to Swim in the Potomac? Army Corps to Study the Possibility (December 2022)
• Coming Soon to D.C.: Rivers Clean Enough for Swimming (August 2018)
• How to Keep Billions of Gallons of Sewage Out of a Waterway (June 2018)
• Will Narrow Focus Sink Plans to Clean D.C.'s Polluted Waters? (June 2012)