Photo by K’s Clicks10 D.C. metropolitan area communities making up parts of the Anacostia River watershed have earned grants from the EPA to promote the use of green infrastructure. The EPA announced the new initiative Friday, along with nine other cities around the U.S., in an effort to reduce the amount of water runoff from entering local waterways, as well as touting the program’s benefits to local economies and neighborhood revitalization. The announcement is an update to a 2008 strategy called “Managing Wet Weather and Green Infrastructure.”
The Baltimore Sun reports the City of College Park, City of Hyattsville, City of Mount Rainier, Montgomery County, Prince Georges County, Town of Bladensburg, Town of Capitol Heights, Town of Edmonston, Town of University Park and the District of Columbia will be chopping up $231,000 for for additional projects expanding the use of green architecture.
If the our air weren’t hurting enough, our waterways are damn near on their last legs. Split into tenths, how much can a shade under a quarter million buy? I doubt much, but the EPA expects the money to go towards building partnerships and educating the public on green infrastructure, obtaining financing for projects and development. The Anacostia River itself drains portions of Prince George’s and Montgomery counties before flowing into the Potomac River, so perhaps a bit more than a drop in the bucket is needed to clean up the notoriously polluted waterway. The EPA grant is a start, but barely compares to the $2 million raised from the bag tax — in one year, no less. D.C. seems to have its act together when it comes to rallying the troops and drumming up support for cleaning up the Anacostia/Potomac, so much so that the while the extra money may be of little help, the true success of this experiment will be seen one of the other smaller communities, such as Syracuse or Jacksonville.
