On 5/31/12 8:10 PM, BAR wrote:
In ,
says...

On Thu, 31 May 2012 11:12:50 -0400, John
wrote:

On Thu, 31 May 2012 01:07:53 -0400, wrote:

On Wed, 30 May 2012 18:06:58 -0400, X `
wrote:




It's nice that the Potomac has cleaned up from what it was many years ago. Of course the water isn't
drinkable, but it's clean enough for the Nation?s Triathlon - which it wouldn't have been thirty
years ago.

http://www.welovedc.com/2010/09/13/n...-record-crowd/


Not only isn't it drinkable, the water in the Potomac is hazardous to
your health.

http://wamu.org/news/11/05/04/potoma..._in_health.php

If you are swimming in the Potomac, you are drinking the Potomac.


"Overall health" in that article probably refers to nutrient
contamination and low DO numbers, not necessarily the various
coliforms that are unhealthy to people.

When I get a minute I will look at the test numbers and see what they
are talking about. Usually we start looking at coliforms when the
colony count gets over 200 or so. If it is enterococcus you really
want it under 35.

The whole damned bay ain't really "pure". ;-(


Badmouthing is a thing some folks do out jealousy or childish spite.

Best to disregard it.

Your comment about the bay is on target. Sandy Point beach gets closed quite frequently because of
the fecal stuff floating in the bay.

I did not have much luck finding current WQ numbers on the web. There
are some numbers on the Fairfax County site referring to the Wilson
Bridge project but they are aimed at nutrients, turbidity and DO, not
coliforms.
The DO numbers are pretty dismal tho (2s and low 3s). That will limit
the types of fish that can live there. They did not specify a time of
day but if these are not done at dawn, the number will be higher than
the accepted standard monitoring protocol would give you.

I have an Email in to the Potomac Riverkeepers organization to see
what they can tell me.

Most of the problems with the Potomac in the 60's and 70's was due to
Blue Plains. Even today they are a major cause of problems in the
Potomac.

http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress...5257359003f534
8/4c0ca7a507be26cf8525779a00536add!OpenDocument




The Potomac above Key Bridge looks a lot cleaner to me, but I've never
seen any test results from that area. I've canoed there, along thousands
of other people.