In article ,
says...

On Thu, 31 May 2012 20:10:03 -0400, BAR wrote:


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


They are talking about nitrogen and phosphorus, (nutrients).
Those are tough on DO but it is not what closes beaches and makes
people sick. When they look at swimmer safety they look at coliforms.
Blue Plains shoots enough chlorine into the effluent that it would be
safe to drink if you could get over the yuck factor. When I was there
they did have a plant manager take a big drink on TV.
This is still down river of DC. It would not affect people up there.
I would worry more about street runoff if I fell in the water at the
14th street bridge. The Anacostia has it's own unique problems with
industrial pollution that you don't see on the west side.

Blue Plains was constantly letting untreated waste into the rivers.
There are no good swimming areas above Haynes Point and most of the
fishing for eating is down below Alexandria.