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We are in Southeast D.C. This is Algier Park
and it's part of the Texas Avenue tributary, which ultimately drains to the Anacostia.
and it's part of the Texas Avenue tributary, which ultimately drains to the Anacostia.
Here we have a very dramatic example of the impacts of uncontrolled stormwater.
In Southeast D.C. we have these Christiana soils, which are
predominantly sand. When uncontrolled stormwater hits this sand,
It just blows it out. And all this sediment is going to end up down in
the Anacostia, and eventually, likely down in the Bay,
which is not what we want.
My name is Stephen Reiling, I'm an environmental protection specialist with the
District of Columbia Department of the Environment. So this technique is called regenerative stormwater conveyance,
District of Columbia Department of the Environment. So this technique is called regenerative stormwater conveyance,
and the regenerate part of it is that over time this will just get better.
The vegetation we'll come back, we have all these plantings that will mature.
And the conveyance part of it, as you can see, it's a series of step pools, weir's, these
cobble weirs, step pool, weir.
We just have a away a slowing the stormwater down, letting it settle, let the
sediment set on these pools.
And these ponds, they act to slow the water down. They also act to
infiltrate the water back into the ground.
And then also, obviously, by looking at it you can see it's great habitat for wildlife, so
that's one of the other goals is is habitat creation.
Total costs for this project here is
close to $700,000 and impressively it only took, actual construction,
close to $700,000 and impressively it only took, actual construction,
less than three months to do the bulk of the construction. Then plantings have been sort of
sporadic as needed. This tributary, which is Milkhouse Ford, this will make it's way
into Rock Creek, which is maybe a mile downstream, and eventually into the
Potomac and then the Bay, so if we can stem the problems here at the headwaters,
Potomac and then the Bay, so if we can stem the problems here at the headwaters,
that's the best place to do it. We have a very impervious watershed up here and so
there's grease and oil from vehicles, sediment, any kind of fertilizers that
are coming off the lawns. And so we'd like to slow that down and hopefully
keep it here before it makes its way into the Bay.
[Hill] We're in Watts Branch, which is in Northeast D.C.
This stream had a history of sewer leaks, a lot of trash, a lot of dumping.
Not a lot of biological life and just very, very poor quality stream.
This is what you might call a traditional natural channel design. These stream
restoration structures are designed to deal with high flows and to keep the
channel relatively stable. During low flow like what we have right now, water
flows through here. It's possible for fish to pass through.
When we have a storm, what will happen essentially is the water will rise up here.
When we have a storm, what will happen essentially is the water will rise up here.
As it comes over here, due to the grading, it will tend to fall back into the
center of the stream, so essentially the drop
of water comes up here and then it's going to fall in this way over these stones
as opposed to coming in and tearing out this bank.
This is a Bandalong litter trap.
And these basically float on top of the stream and
the trash that comes down from upstream will get
caught in the east these structures.
We're doing it because we really want people to value the stream and we know that
people's impression of litter and just general appearance really impacts
people's thoughts and their ideas about what their local water bodies are.
There's a lot of work to do the District in terms of stream restoration.
We restored three in the last year in 2011. We have four
other stream projects in design, and we think we can make a real positive impact
on the Anacostia and the Bay overall.
It's going to take some time and money, but we're well on our way and we expect
to do many more.
to do many more.