Leaders Get Close-Up View Of Years of Trash, Neglect

Infusion of Funds and Equipment Planned to Help Cleanup

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), left, Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson and County Council member David Harrington take a pontoon boat tour. Prince George's plans to provide a trash trap for the river, Johnson said. (Photos By Kevin Clark -- The Washington Post)

The wide pontoon boat had just nudged under the New York Avenue bridge, crossing from Maryland into the District, when the boat shuddered with the force of an underwater collision.

The loud thump caused U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) and Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D), seated side by side on a bench of the boat for a tour of the Anacostia River, to glance around with curiosity as the boat's captain idled the motor and then backed up, ensuring that no junk had lodged underneath.

In a way, the collision was the best thing that could have happened on yesterday's river cruise, which was designed to showcase for the politicians the potential beauties of the Anacostia River but also the serious challenges it faces. The jolt provided a real-life illustration of the tons of trash and sediment that have built up in the river over years of neglect. Environmentalists hope elected officials will help find a way to clean it up.

"There's stuff coming out here all the time," said Robert E. Boone, president of the Anacostia Watershed Society, as he gestured to a creek emptying into the Anacostia just off the starboard side of the pontoon. He said tires and garbage often build up there after rainfall. "It's hazardous waters."

Cardin and Johnson, who were briefed by members of the society about the health of the river and its watershed, pledged to get involved.

Johnson announced that Prince George's will deploy the river's first trash trap, a floating device that collects refuse in nets before it can stream into the river.

If the trap is successful at cutting down on trash, Johnson said, he will push for more of the devices. Boone estimated that 12 to 15 of the contraptions, which cost more than $35,000 each, are needed along the path of the Anacostia and its tributaries in Montgomery, Prince George's and the District.

Cardin is pushing for federal earmarks totaling $808,000 to provide funding for wetlands restoration in the Anacostia watershed and a study on how to clean up the rest of the river.

Also making its way through Congress is a bill on "green" features for building and renovating federal facilities. Cardin sponsored an amendment ensuring that the bill addresses storm water management.

"What a great treasure for the community," Cardin said after disembarking from the pontoon boat. He said the tour was his first trip down the long-blighted 8.4-mile river, which starts near Bladensburg, where the group gathered yesterday, and empties into the Potomac River at Hains Point in the District.

"If you look at the positive side, the fact that so much of the shoreline has been protected by parkland really makes this a doable reclamation," Cardin said. "We can really make this a great asset to the community not just for boating, but hopefully one day for swimming and fishing."

There is some bright news for the Anacostia River. Since 1989, the Anacostia Watershed Society has cleaned up 785 tons of trash from the waterway and removed 11,000 tires choking its flow. In a briefing at the visitors' center at Bladensburg Waterfront Park, Boone told a collection of elected leaders and activists that they could help the Anacostia become trash-free by 2012.

Advocates say the visitors' center itself is a sign of progress. It sits at a spot where in colonial days the river was 40 feet deep. By 1992, however, when Prince George's County Council member David Harrington (D-Cheverly) was elected mayor of Bladensburg, the port was nothing but a crumbled wooden dock and a mud flat. But with dredging and community effort, the visitors' center hosts educational events, and boaters launch there frequently.

"It's incredible what's been done here," Harrington said.

Much work remains, the environmentalists said. During his briefing, Boone flashed photos of catfish with tumors on their mouths and explained that one of the river's greatest challenges is urban runoff. He showed pictures of muddy gorges near major shopping centers, carved by years of storm water draining off vast concrete parking lots in the direction of the river.

Trash traps could make a huge difference, he said, removing some plastic bottles, tires, logs and branches that were clearly visible from the pontoon boats yesterday.

"This has got traction," he said. "It has support."