Norton Urges Residents to Comment on 10-Year Anacostia River Clean-up Plan Required by Her Bill

Press Release

Norton Urges Residents to Comment on 10-Year Anacostia River Clean-up Plan Required by Her Bill

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) encourages residents to use the next 45 days to comment on the 10-year Anacostia River Watershed Restoration Plan and Interim Report released today (www.anacostia.net). The plan was required by Norton's bill, the Anacostia Watershed Initiative Act, the first bill mandating a comprehensive clean-up of the Ancostia River. Initially, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers will complete a two-year study of one of the river's tributaries, Sligo Creek, which began in September 2007. Plans for the Anacostia River and all 14 Washington area tributaries that feed into the river will use the Sligo Creek case study to systematically analyze cost-effective methods to reduce pollution in the waterways. Norton strongly endorses the Army Corps' decision to use the Sligo Creek watershed as a case study for how to tackle the remaining 13. "The only way to achieve a holistic plan for the entire basin is to take a piece of it and test the results," Norton said.

Norton's bill also got $20 million to be used for infrastructure and resource protection around the Anacostia River banks in D.C. and MD, and $35 million for combined sewer overflow problems. Norton's Anacostia Watershed bill provides for restoration of the Anacostia and the tributaries that feed into them. Her bill requires the Corps to "be the lead" coordinator among Maryland, Virginia and the District for joint action on a single plan.

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