The Consequences Of Cleaning Up The Anacostia River
“The Anacostia wasn’t just a dirty river. It was a dividing line, separating the haves and the have-nots for generations. To this day, the statistics are stark. In neighborhoods east of the river, the median household income is less than half what it is for the city as a whole. And for generations, those neighborhoods, the poorest in the city, were the closest to the city’s biggest polluters; up and down the river, coal-fired power plants, a cement factory, gravel yards. But in the past few years, the river has gone from a place to avoid to an urban amenity.”