on thursday mornings during the warm months in the district, masaya maeda and maria spottswood head out on the anacostia river for the anacostia watershed society (aws). 

while out on the river, the workers perform river quality monitoring, measuring acidity and clarity. maeda, water quality specialist at the aws for the past 20 years, leads this effort and said the water quality of the river has improved, which can be attributed to mussel deployment and reduced sewage runoff. 

“the anacostia river may look better than you think,” maeda said.

testing water quality along the anacostia river

the pair set off from the aws boat dock at the eastern power boat club. from there, they spend two to three hours on the river, hitting 10 different water quality testing stations. their route goes from the south capitol street bridge, at the intersection of the potomac river, up through the bladensburg bridge, near the border of the district and southern maryland.

maeda said he checks the river’s clarity by dipping a clean water bottle into the river to gather a sample. he also checks the river through a water quality testing machine. with this machine, maeda checks for the water’s acidity and temperature. he also looks at the dissolved oxygen in the water, the e. coli levels, and the conductivity.

these measurements help him determine the river’s health for human consumption, aquatic life, recreation, and other uses.

for the past eight years, maeda has brought along volunteer spottswood, a 78-year-old from north bethesda, md. she uses a secchi disk, a black-and-white patterned plate, to check the water’s clarity by lowering it into the water and measuring the depth at which it disappears. 

according to spottswood, the section of the anacostia river closer to the potomac is clearer compared to upper parts of the river. this is because the tidal section in maryland has more fecal bacteria from wildlife compared to areas near the potomac river, per the 2021 aws report card. 

“we’d love to see the bottom,” she said. “we never will.” 

spottswood got involved with the aws after taking their maryland master naturalist course. when the instructor said maeda needed a volunteer, she said she jumped at the opportunity. 

“i love being on the river,” spottswood said. “it’s just so beautiful.”

aws also relies on volunteers to help deploy mussels into the anacostia river. jorge bogantes montero, 43, restoration program manager at the aws, is in charge of this effort and said these mussels are part of the reason for a cleaner river. he said the aws began deploying the mussels in 2019.

since then, he said, over 38,000 mussels have been reintroduced into the anacostia river. they now filter 10-20 gallons of water per day, adding up to the equivalent of over 210 olympic-sized pools per year.

bogantes said volunteers make this project possible, as they are the ones releasing the mussels. he said the mailing list for the mussel volunteers is around 300 people. 

“the mussel project has been eye-opening for us,” bogantes said. “when we started, we were not expecting the support we have received for this project.”

reasons for anacostia river water quality improvement

maeda said it’s difficult to link mussel deployment directly to improved water quality because there are not many mussels upstream in the anacostia river. he said a main reason for an improvement in water quality is a decrease in sewage in the river, thanks to several projects run by the district’s department of energy and environment of the district through their restoring the anacostia river website.

the anacostia river sediment project, for example, identifies potential contaminants located within the anacostia river, along with the washington channel and kingman lake. and in november 2024, the doee also released their anacostia river corridor restoration plan. 

they also work on stormwater and sewage management systems through their riversmart homes program. 

since 2007, the riversmart homes program website said, it has supported residents with rain barrels, shade trees, rain gardens, and native plants. the program website also said it reimburses the construction behind the movement of large hard-surface areas like driveways or patios. 

these efforts reduce sewage and polluted runoff by helping rain soak into other areas instead of carrying trash into storm drains, according to the riversmart homes website. richard jackson, director of the doee, said this program works to prevent pollution.  

“it’s an old program,” jackson said. “but it’s still very effective and many people enjoy that program and benefit from it.” 

this past november, the aws released its 2025 state of the anacostia river report, showing improvements. 

the overall score was a pass of 65%, or a d, which is the second highest grade ever recorded, according to the report. but the anacostia river has not always passed the test, maeda said. the state of the anacostia river reports from 2019, 2022, and 2023 all showed failing grades. 

maeda said this means the river has shown improvement, but still has a long way to go.