ABOUT THE RIVER > SOLUTIONS

Recently, the District and federal governments began an initiative to redevelop the banks of the Anacostia River, with plans for new parks, museums, shops and homes along the waterfront. The city hopes these efforts will bring new commerce and capital to boost the standard of living in the area. Funding for some of these projects is already available, specifically for the Southeast Federal Center site, where old Navy Yard property is to be turned into commercial and residential buildings fronting the river.

As the project planners readily acknowledge, cleaning up the Anacostia is both key to the redevelopment plans, and the plans' most difficult element. If the Anacostia River is to become an asset to the city, the backdrop of a thriving urban area and a venue for boating, fishing, and possibly even swimming, it must be a sparkling, healthy waterway, and the efforts to make those changes must begin now.

To learn more about the parks along the Anacostia, visit the National Park Service page about Anacostia Park or visit the District of Columbia Office of Planning's Anacostia Waterfront Initiative website.