Lawsuit settled between city, Potomac Riverkeepers

From the Alexandria Times:

The Potomac River is slated for a transformative cleanup. The city of Alexandria unveiled a comprehensive $11.8 million plan on November 1 to eradicate the coal tar contamination present in the River over the next decade. This initiative stems from a settlement with the Potomac Riverkeeper Network, which took the city to federal court for being in violation of the Clean Water Act. 

The settlement provides a comprehensive plan that includes upland remediation enhancements to remove the coal tar from the soil and groundwater, pipe upgrades to the storm sewer to keep coal tar contamination from migrating down into the river, sediment testing to see if more remediation is needed and the Mussel Project where the city plans to add 20,000 freshwater mussels into the river to naturally purify it. 

Nancy Stoner, the president of the PRKN, heralded the settlement as a historic win for the people of Alexandria. 

“We commend the city for agreeing to take the necessary corrective action to halt and clean up this pollution, which has been harming the Potomac River for decades,” Stoner said in a release issued by the PRKN.