Partner Highlight Anacostia Riverkeeper

Tell us about the Anacostia Riverkeeper’s work and impact
In 2008, Anacostia Riverkeeper was established as an independent 501c3 with the mission to protect and restore the Anacostia River for all who live, work, and play in the watershed. One goal directs our work: a healthy, swimmable, fishable, accessible Anacostia River that enhances the life of all watershed residents. Anacostia Riverkeeper executes this mission through advocacy and legal action, restoring the river through community-led trash removal and water quality projects, and connecting residents to their river through recreational opportunities such as boating and fishing programs.

August, is National Water Quality monitoring month, can you explain your community science water quality monitoring program and how people can get involved.
The Anacostia River has a storied history of degraded water quality, and our community-science water-quality projects allow watershed residents to be involved in capturing data that celebrates the healing river as well as provide the public with data they can use real-time to make informed recreational decisions along the watershed. Since the start of our monitoring program, we have collected and analyzed over 2,000 samples through the watershed! All monitoring focuses on EPA recreational standards, honing in on E. coli levels as a fecal bacteria indicator that helps inform the public on the safety of water recreation, as well as advocate towards a swimmable Anacostia.

You all do more than just monitor water quality in the river, what other programs do you have?
Beyond water quality monitoring, Anacostia Riverkeeper has a array of projects helping remove trash from the watershed and engage residents with their river! We utilize trash traps and community trash cleanups to remove and classify trash in the watershed. Our powerful trash classification dataset to educate the public and advocate for legislation to limit single-use plastics within the watershed. We increase watershed residents’ connection with the river by hosting recreational opportunities such as boat tours and fishing, as well as leading youth and adult educational opportunities to learn more about the issues facing the rivers. All of these projects empower residents to advocate for their river by providing clear action steps and educational content surrounding current river threats.

What are you excited for when thinking about where ARK is going in 2025?
As climate change brings warmer temperatures, a clean and accessible watershed is critical to allow watershed residents to safely recreate and cool down. As climate change brings even more stormwater into the river and its tributaries, we hope to continue to grow our community-science monitoring to obtain more data points, grow our trash removal projects to continue to advocate for legislation to reduce single-use plastics in our watershed, and continue to offer programming to educate and empower residents to make informed recreational decisions and eventually push for the lifting of the District’s swim ban in the Anacostia.