The Environmental Community: The Anacostia River Gets a Much Needed Clean Up for World Wetland Day
Washington D.C.—Bundled up on the shoreline of the Anacostia, 23 volunteers picked cans, plastic and other garbage out of the river and surrounding marshes in observation of 2018 World Wetlands Day last Saturday.
Participants spent a little over two hours under the boardwalk in Southeast D.C. clearing the debris at Diamond Teague Park.
The Earth Conservation Corp (ECC) and Serve D.C. organized the Anacostia River Cleanup to provide a cleaner environment for the community and safer habitat to surrounding fauna.
The ECC performs periodic river clean ups throughout the year as apart of its River of Hope initiative. The organization has hosted a river cleanup for World Wetlands Day for the past 25 years, and claims to have seen improvements in the Southeast crime rate. This year’s theme is “Year of the Anacostia: Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future.” ECC leaders hope the event will educate the public about how Urban Wetlands contribute to the future of sustainable cities.
Volunteers were given boots, gloves and special clampers to assist them as they dug through muddy waters to recover trash. Elise Emil, who heard about the event via email says she and others showed up to “hopefully make a small impact”. Participants were able to fill more than two dozen bags with litter from the polluted river.
Styrofoam, plastics and numerous other materials threaten to disrupt the natural habitat of the 50 different types of fish and dozens of other wildlife supported by the Anacostia River. According to the ECC, the river is located near a sewage out flow adding to the pollution. The organization is committed to using the restoration of the river as a way to connect and encourage the youth in the Ward 8 community, where the child poverty rate is 49 percent, more than any other ward in D.C. according to the 2015 U.S.Census. Former ECC member and volunteer Nneka Anosike, says “It is very important to keep this habitat clean.” She adds, “You can not expect a positive outcome in a negative environment."
In a recommitment to invest in the river and its surrounding community, the D.C Council voted to declare 2018 “The Year of the Anacostia”. A cleaner river could attract new fish east of the rive where new housing and economic development have been slower to rise.
The Department of Employment Services 2017 report shows that Ward 8 has the highest unemployment rate in D.C. at 12.9 percent. It also remains the city’s poorest ward, according to 2015 U.S. Census. Anosike, who has dedicated over 100 hours to volunteering with the Earth Conservation Corp feels a responsibility to change those numbers. She says, “The District is only as strong as its weakest community and we owe it to the Anacostia and to ourselves to rehabilitate the river into one that is completely safe for wildlife and our residents.”