[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 101 (Friday, July 22, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8751-S8752]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SARBANES (for himself, Ms. Mikulski, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. 
        Warner, and Mr. Allen):
  S. 1472. A bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and 
the Water Resources Development Act of 1992 to provide for the 
restoration, protection, and enhancement of the environmental integrity 
and social and economic benefits of the Anacostia Watershed in the 
State of Maryland and the District of Columbia; to the Committee on 
Environment and Public Works.
  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, today I am reintroducing legislation, 
together with my colleagues Senators Mikulski, Landrieu, Warner and 
Allen to bolster efforts to restore the Anacostia River.
  I spoke during the 108th Congress about the need for this legislation 
and I want to underscore the principal reasons today. The Anacostia 
River is a resource rich in history and with tremendous natural 
resource and recreational potential. It is home to 43 species of fish, 
some 200 species of birds, as well as more than 800,000 people whose 
neighborhoods border the watershed. Flowing through Montgomery and 
Prince George's Counties in Maryland and emptying into the Potomac at 
the District of Columbia, the watershed consists of a 176 square mile 
drainage area. One of the most urbanized watersheds in the United 
States, the Anacostia suffers a series of problems including trash, 
toxic pollution from urban runoff, sewage pollution from leaking sewer 
lines and combined sewer overflows, sediment pollution from erosion, 
and loss of fish and wildlife and recreational resources. It is a 
resource that has long been abused and neglected, but one that, in my 
view, can and must be protected and restored.
  Efforts to begin rejuvenating the Anacostia watershed began formally 
in 1987 when the State of Maryland, Montgomery and Prince George's 
Counties, and the District of Columbia signed an Anacostia Watershed 
Restoration Agreement. The Agreement authorized the Washington Area 
Council of Governments, COG, to manage the restoration program and the 
Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, ICPRB, to protect the 
resources and facilitate public participation. COG created an Anacostia 
Watershed Restoration Committee, AWRC, to coordinate and implement 
restoration projects throughout the watershed. Since that time, local, 
State, and Federal Government agencies, as well as the Anacostia 
Watershed Society, the Anacostia Citizens Advisory Committee and other 
environmental organizations and dedicated private citizens have 
contributed significant resources toward re-establishing the Anacostia 
watershed ecosystem.
  Thanks to this cooperative and coordinated Federal, State, local and 
private effort, we are beginning to make some progress in restoring the 
watershed. A Six Point Action Plan was signed in 1991 setting ambitious 
and broad-reaching goals for the river's restoration. In 1993 we 
celebrated the successful restoration of 32 acres of emergent tidal 
wetlands by the Army Corps of Engineers at Kenilworth marsh. The 
project has shown significant results in improving tidal water flow 
through the marsh, and reducing the concentration of nitrogen and 
phosphorus in the area and demonstrates what can be achieved in urban 
river restoration. There have been other success stories as well in 
urban stream restoration in Montgomery and Prince George's counties, 
removing barriers to fish passage and reforestation efforts throughout 
the watershed, to name only a few. In 1999, a new Anacostia Watershed 
Agreement was signed to strengthen the regional governmental commitment 
to Anacostia restoration. There are today more than 60 local, State and 
Federal agencies involved in Anacostia watershed restoration. And more 
than $100 million has been spent cleaning up the river. There is 
clearly much for which we can all be proud. But the job of restoring 
the Anacostia watershed is far from complete. The Anacostia is still 
one of North America's most endangered and threatened rivers. It is 
designated one of three ``regions of concern'' for toxics in the 
Chesapeake Bay watershed.
  The legislation which we are introducing authorizes more than $200 
million in Federal assistance over the next 10 years to restore the 
Anacostia. Of these funds, $170 million is authorized to address the 
biggest pollution problems in the watershed--storm water runoff and 
failing waste-water infrastructure. As the builder of much of

[[Page S8752]]

the original infrastructure and a major user, the Federal Government 
has an important responsibility to help stem the flow of this pollution 
and comply with the Clean Water Act. The remaining funds will allow the 
Administrator of EPA, working together with an ``Anacostia Watershed 
Council'' of State and local officials, to develop a comprehensive 
environmental protection and resource management plan for the 
watershed, for several Federal agencies to join in the implementation 
of the plan.
  The Anacostia River suffers from centuries of impacts and changes. 
Once a healthy, thriving river, it is today severely degraded. This 
legislation is urgently needed if we are to achieve the goal of making 
the Anacostia and its tributaries swimmable and fishable again. It is 
my hope that provisions of this measure will be included in the 
reauthorization of the Water Resources Development Act and I urge my 
colleagues to join me in supporting this measure.
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