CWA Timeline
- The Patawomeck and Piscataway tribes lived in these ancestral waters where they hunted, fished, and used water for drinking and bathing.
- Health of the river is excellent
- Potowmack Company organized by George Washington to spread commerce by river
Image credit: Library of Congress
- Residence Act directs President George Washington to identify the Potomac River location that will serve as the nation’s capital
Image credit: Library of Congress
- George Washington describes Potomac River as “well-stocked with various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year, and in the Spring with Shad, Herrings, Bass, Carp, Perch, Sturgeon, etc. in great abundance”
https://www.mountvernon.org/the-estate-gardens/historic-trades/fisheries/fishing-operations/
Image credit: Library of Congress
- British defeat US troops at Bladensburg and invade DC, including burning Long Bridge on the Potomac
Image credit: Library of Congress
- Potomac River used to support tobacco industry with markets of enslaved people and routes of transport for goods.
- Deforestation and poor farming practices cause siltation of the river.
Image credit: Library of Congress
- John Quincy Adams nearly drowns swimming in Tiber Creek (tributary to the Potomac) in a sudden storm.
Image credit: Library of Congress
- C & O Canal construction begins to provide a transport route around Great Falls
Image credit: Library of Congress
- C & O Canal reaches Shepherdstown, which is as far is it is ever built
Image credit: Library of Congress
- Herring and sturgeon industry booming
- Sewers begin to be built in DC to channel sewage and stormwater into the river
Image credit https://www.dcwater.com/wastewater-collection-history
- Blue Plains sewage treatment plant built to provide basic sewage treatment
- National Park Service acquires C & O Canal
Image Credit https://www.dcwater.com/history-blue-plains
- Justice William O. Douglas leads a walking trip from Cumberland to DC to save the C & O Canal from being paved
Image credit: Library of Congress
- C & O proclaimed a national monument by President Eisenhower
Image source: https://www.loc.gov/item/2011633587/ Photographer: Photographer: Carol Highsmith
- President Johnson declares that the Potomac River is a national disgrace, “a river of decaying sewage and rotten algae.” He added, “The river rich in history and memory which flows by our nation’s capital should serve as a model of scenic and recreation values for the entire country.”
Quote source: https://www.whitehousehistory.org/presidents-and-the-potomac
Image source: https://www.whitehousehistory.org/photos/lyndon-b-johnson
- Blue Plains sewage treatment plant upgraded to provide advanced treatment
- 1968 President Johnson again, “We can achieve a new concept in conservation—greater than a park, more than the preservation of a river—by beginning this year to make the Potomac a living part of our national life.”
Image source: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/547220
- Passage of the CWA Reauthorization, starting federal program addressing stormwater pollution
Image credit: Potomacriverkeepernetwork.org
- Potomac Riverkeeper Inc. formed by clean water advocates to be a strong, local voice for the Potomac River
Image credit: Potomacriverkeepernetwork.org
- Potomac Riverkeeper files its first Clean Water Act lawsuits to stop sewage pollution
Image credit: Potomacriverkeepernetwork.org
- Potomac Riverkeeper wins clean up of lead contamination from shooting range in Seneca Creek
Image credit: Maryland Department of Natural Resources
- Potomac Riverkeeper launches campaign to end toxic coal ash pollution from Possum Point coal plant on the Potomac in Virginia
- Potomac Riverkeeper suit against WSSC for illegal discharges of metals from Potomac drinking water treatment plant leads to Clean Water Act consent decree ordering WSSC to cease pollution and modernize the plant to meet current standards to protect the river.
Image credit: Potomacriverkeepernetwork.org
- Potomac Riverkeeper strengthens public health standards for swimming
- Potomac and Patuxent Riverkeepers’ enforcement action against NRG Energy for nutrient pollution from its three coal-fired power plants leads to a federal court agreement requiring plant upgrades and $1 million environmental fund to benefit the two rivers.
Image credit: Potomacriverkeepernetwork.org
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- Shenandoah Riverkeeper helps tightened limits on Massanutten Wastewater Treatment Plant discharges
- UPRK begins use of aerial drone to investigate and take enforcement action against violators of the Clean Water Act
Image credit: Potomacriverkeepernetwork.org
- Potomac Riverkeeper wins legislation to require Alexandria to stop sewage dumping
- First tunnel to capture sewer overflows goes online to reduce routine sewage dumping into the Anacostia River that flows into the Potomac
- Potomac Riverkeeper lawsuit against City of Frederick, MD for polluting the Monocacy River with excess nutrients from its sewage treatment plant leads to informal settlement and plant upgrade to protect water quality in this Potomac tributary.
- First annual RioPalooza – first environmental outreach to underserved communities in the Shenandoah Valley
Image credit: Potomacriverkeepernetwork.org
- Potomac Riverkeeper launches community science water quality monitoring program and pilot program to restore freshwater mussel population
- Potomac Riverkeeper wins recycle and remove legislative battle to stop toxic coal ash pollution
- Upper Potomac Riverkeeper reaches informal agreement with SGI, a Pennsylvania roof shingle manufacturer, to resolve untreated discharges of quarry stormwater into a nearby trout stream. SGI agreed to install state of the art treatment to protect the stream.
Image credit: Potomacriverkeepernetwork.org
- PRKN succeeds in passing legislation in Virginia to require herds of cattle to be fenced out of the river by the end of 2025 if water quality standards are not met
Image credit: Potomacriverkeepernetwork.org
- PRK investigation and report leads to $1.4 million EPA fine against Dominion for illegal dumping of 27.5 million gallons of coal ash wastewater into Quantico Creek
- Keep Cacapon Clean initiative inspired by Friends of the Cacapon, UPRK Brent Walls, and the Cacapon Institute
Image credit: Potomacriverkeepernetwork.org
- UPRK investigation leads to federal court consent decree ordering Verso to stop and clean up leaks of toxic “black liquor” from the Luke paper mill into the Upper Potomac.
Image credit: PotomacRiverkeeperNetwork.org
- DC commits to lifting ban on swimming in the Potomac
- Virginia begins use of chlorophyll-a standard, long fought for by Shenandoah Riverkeeper, to measure algae blooms’ impact on river recreation
Image credit: Specialolympics.org
- Alexandria ends sewage dumping
Image credit: https://www.loc.gov/item/2020724967/ Photographer: Carol Highsmith
- DC ends sewage dumping
Image credit: https://www.loc.gov/item/2020724967/ Photographer: Carol Highsmith
- Native freshwater mussel population has been restored and is removing pollution to clean the Potomac River
Image credit: Potomacriverkeepernetwork.org.
- Potomac Riverkeeper monitors water quality throughout the watershed and provides timely, accurate information to the public so they can safely swim
Image credit: Potomacriverkeepernetwork.org
- Potomac River is teeming with fish, safe for swimming, and provides great drinking water to the millions who live here
Image credit: Frank Filipy
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