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Chesapeake Life Magazine
O'Malley: Anacostia River will go on 'trash diet'
WTOPApril 19, 2010
WASHINGTON - The Anacostia River will go on a "trash diet," becoming the first river on the East Coast and only the second in the nation where the total amount of trash will be limited every day, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said on WTOP's Ask the Governor Monday.
The move comes as the Army Corps of Engineers plans to release its plan to clean up the Chesapeake Bay tributary.
The plan is "one of the most detailed stream-restoration plans, as I understand, that has ever been created in our bay watershed."
"It zeroes in on that ubiquitous problem of storm water runoff from giant blacktop parking lots, most of which were built prior to 1985, that do such damage to the streams nearby. They are actual concrete dead zones," O'Malley says.
Those parking lots prevent water from going in the land before going into the Anacostia River.
O'Malley says the Army Corps has identified about 1,700 different sites for cleanup and remediation within the Anacostia Watershed.
O'Malley says people can see how their communities are doing on water issues, by visiting the state's BayStats site.
On Ask the Governor, O'Malley also talked about the rebound of the crab population in the Chesapeake Bay.
O'Malley says the crab population was "in danger of imploding" before Maryland and Virginia put in place restrictions on harvesting blue crabs.
The restrictions drew a lot of criticism, but O'Malley says, "it was the right thing to do."
"In just two years, we've seen a huge rebound," he says.
"Not only is the species rebounding, watermen are bringing more product to the dock."
O'Malley also called the University of Maryland incident where several Prince George's County officers struck a student with batons "a very serious matter."
The incident was captured on video after the Maryland-Duke game last month, and prompted the suspensions of four officers.
O'Malley says he has no doubt the matter will "receive the attention it deserves" from the chief of police of the Prince George's County Police Department.
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