D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) recently introduced a bill aimed at cleaning up the Anacostia River.

The Anacostia Watershed Initiative Act of 2003 — co-sponsored by Maryland Reps. Steny Hoyer (D), Albert Wynn (D) and Chris Van Hollen (D) and Virginia Rep. Jim Moran (D) — would create a 10-year “action plan” focused on improving the District’s sewer system as well as addressing storm runoff from federal facilities and property in Maryland. [IMGCAP(1)]

“It is a sad fact that more than 30 years after the passage of the Clean Water Act, the Anacostia, despite its proximity to the Congress, remains badly contaminated,” Norton said in a statement. “Unlike other waterways in our country, the federal government is deeply implicated as a prime polluter of the Anacostia river.”

Norton introduced a bill in the 107th Congress that would have made the Anacostia River the center of a nationwide program to restore urban watershed areas, but that legislation died in committee.

— Jennifer Yachnin