Robert McCartney: That's Natali Fani-González, a Montgomery County Council member and chair of the Chesapeake Bay and Water Resources Policy Committee at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, or COG, and this is Think Regionally, a monthly podcast sponsored by COG on issues in the Washington Metro region. In this episode, we'll look at ways that the area is working to safeguard our water through both public investments and infrastructure and public education about what individuals can do to help keep our water clean. Kishia Powell is general manager of WSSC Water, the utility that serves Montgomery and Prince George's counties. She oversees treatment plants that draw water from the Potomac River and the T. Howard Duckett Reservoir on the Patuxent. They filter and disinfect the water to make it safe to use. WSSC water also coordinates closely with other area water utilities through COG.

Kishia Powell: The main challenges are emerging contaminants. We're seeing more and more water quality impacts all the time from industry, stormwater runoff, you name it. During the wintertime we talked about road salts that come from treating for snow and ice. We also see pharmaceuticals, personal care products, various things that are entering the waterways. We still see trash, which impacts water quality.

Robert McCartney: When people put salt on their sidewalks, when it's to prevent icing, are there products you can get at the hardware store to de-ice that are safe or are all of the stuff, anything, you put on the sidewalk going to be bad for the water?

Kishia Powell: Well, they do sell material that is supposed to be safer for the environment, but, really, anything that you are using for the sidewalk, we just encourage folks to take a mugs worth and use that. It can treat a very large area, an entire driveway, several sidewalk panels, and you can also sweep it up and reuse it, which a lot of folks don't know. So really all it takes is a mugs worth, a coffee cup of the salt to treat your walkway or driveway

Robert McCartney: And pharmaceuticals, we shouldn't flush any of our pharmaceuticals down the toilet.

Kishia Powell: Right. Anytime you're flushing pharmaceuticals, some folks might put it down the drain, so we encourage that you properly dispose of the medicine. You can turn it in to a pharmacy or find out how to properly dispose of it in a landfill. But just dumping it down the toilet, it does come to the treatment facility. Once it enters the sewer system, then we are having to deal with it on the treatment end.

Robert McCartney: Despite these threats, Powell says WSSC's water is safe meeting all of the EPA's requirements for drinking water. The EPA requires that water providers publish details on water quality monitoring through an annual Consumer Confidence Report, but contaminants are of great concern for water utilities.

Roberty McCartney: Are you concerned that because of these contaminants that it's going to become unsafe or that you're going to have to spend a lot more money to keep it safe? What exactly is the prognosis here?

Kishia Powell: Because of emerging contaminants, when we see different levels of things that are being detected in the raw water, yes, it requires us to make sure that we adjust our treatment processes at the water treatment facility so that we don't see any contaminants in the drinking water that we're putting out into the system. And yes, it becomes more and more expensive the more contaminants we have to address.

Robert McCartney: Utilities like WSSC Water are particularly concerned right now about man-made compounds often called "forever chemicals". They are known as PFAS, that's PFAS, which is short for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. They do not break down in the environment, and so last permanently, including in our bodies IF consumed. In April, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized a standard for the presence of PFAS in drinking water.

Kishia Powell: Fortunately, the levels that we detect in our drinking water are below the maximum contaminant levels that are required now by this regulation, but we want to make sure that we're always providing the safest drinking water possible. We estimate that upgrades could be upwards of a billion dollars. That would have a significant impact on rates, but that would happen over time. We are also focused on advocating for external funds, and specifically in the form of grants, that our ratepayers would not be required to pay.

Robert McCartney: Montgomery Council member Fani-González has dealt with the cost issue at town meetings and other encounters with constituents.

Natali Fani-González: When people complain about increases in the water utility, for example, I think when we put things in context and we say, "Well, you have an increased because we must update our infrastructure. Otherwise, the water that you're drinking or when you're showering, maybe you're not drinking the water, but you're putting that water on your body, we need to make sure that it's clean, that it doesn't have bacteria, that one day we could all, perhaps, swim in the Potomac and swim in all these different rivers that we have in a region to have better quality of life." So once we explain that to people, people tend to get it.

Robert McCartney: A changing climate is another threat that utilities must grapple with. Much of the money is going for investments to handle increasingly powerful storms. New and larger pipes and other infrastructure are being installed. They're to prevent sewage overflows and leaks that risk contaminating storm water flowing into the Potomac, its tributaries, and reservoirs

Natali Fani-González: Right now our different utilities, water utilities are basically upgrading their infrastructure. We have actually accomplished quite a lot creating new tunnels and pipes, especially for wastewater, to ensure that we are doing our best to have modern practices to protect our water.

Robert McCartney: The council member pointed to a different challenge affecting water quality that gets little attention.

Natali Fani-González: Another thing that people tend to forget when we're talking about this issue is the workforce. Making sure that we have enough people prepared to take on the jobs that dealt with the infrastructure of water systems. I had a meeting very recently with the general manager of WSSC, Ms. Powell, and the whole meeting was about the workforce in water quality and making sure that in the vacancies that we have in WSSE, but we also having in many other places that deal with water quality and water infrastructure, making sure that we're preparing the next generation of technicians. Sometimes you don't need to have a PhD, you don't need to have a four-year degree to get on these jobs. So you need a technical degree. Making sure that we're working with our public school system and our colleges to get the workforce that we need to work on this very critical issue.

Robert McCartney: It isn't all about engineering. The council member had some practical suggestions for how individuals can help protect our streams.

Natali Fani-González: The other issue that is happening that people don't think about is that comes from wildlife, especially geese and pets, and that includes dogs too. You'd be surprised how many people walked their dogs in the park, for example, and they don't clean up after the dog, and that ends up in the water and that contaminates the Potomac.

Robert McCartney: That's an important reminder that what may seem like a minor action can significantly impact the health of our water sources. Fani-González also led a campaign in Montgomery to end the use of old tires in facilities where children play.

Natali Fani-González: I hated to see higher waste in our playgrounds in Montgomery County. It's like that black stuff that you see in some playgrounds that gets really hot in the summer. When I was on the planning board, I had this mission of removing all the stuff away from our community because that stuff ends up in our drinking water. When it rains, it gets in all the streams. It took me a while, but I was able to get Montgomery County Parks to remove this from our playgrounds, and we just passed a law at the state level to remove these type of materials at the state.

Robert McCartney: Finally, let's hear about a long-term effort that's shown success in improving water quality in the second-largest waterway in our region, the Anacostia River. It was once known as the forgotten river because of its pollution and proximity to many lower-income neglected neighborhoods. Today, the Anacostia has enjoyed a revival, thanks, in part, to cooperative work by jurisdictions in both the district and Maryland. It also results from efforts by the public to be good stewards of the river by taking some of the actions mentioned earlier. In this episode to limit Contamination, COG has helped lead the initiative, which began in the 1980s and intensified 14 years ago. I spoke to Phong Trieu, manager of COG's Anacostia Restoration Program.

Phong Trieu: The Anacostia, there's, we've got over 9,000 completed projects to help improve the health of the Anacostia. Some of the success and programs that have greatly improved the conditions of the Anacostia is the DC Water Clean Rivers Project. That has greatly reduced the number of sanitary overflows that's related to bacteria that's harmful to the humans and to wildlife. Upstream, in Maryland, WSSC Water has been running a program called the SR3 Program that, also has been reducing sewer overflows in the streams that feed to the river. So the targets for both of those programs, they've been achieving a 98% reduction of the sewage overflows in both of those areas.

Robert McCartney: 98% reduction over what period?

Phong Trieu: Roughly over 10 years the programs have been started.

Robert McCartney: And can you explain to our readers who aren't so familiar with engineering what kind of changes you have to make in the pipes or whatever in order to reduce the sanitary overflow?

Phong Trieu: In the district portion, there is a combined sewer overflow and essentially enhancement to those combined systems include enlargements of the pipe. So rather than having diameters of 7.5 to 12 to 15 feet, now there are large tunnels. So the capacity has been greatly increased to hold the sanitary sewers and the mixing of the stormwater that comes into these systems. And so the capacity to hold that is greatly increased for the District of Columbia.

Robert McCartney: So basically bigger sewer pipes so that when there's a storm, the sewage stays in the pipe and doesn't overflow into the water system?

Phong Trieu: Correct. Yeah, and the tunnels then are diverting that volume down to a treatment facility such as Blue Plains.

Robert McCartney: Other improvements include repairing leaky sewer lines, planting trees and other vegetation along riverbanks, and removing chemical pollutants from past industrial activity along the lower Beaver Dam Creek tributary. The region also has moved or removed pipes and other physical barriers along the river to allow fish to flourish.

Phong Trieu: We at COG here have been working with our local members to coordinate that to allow fish to bypass a lot of these fish blockages. Back in 2014 through 2016, there were 11 fish blockages that were alleviated, and those blockages blockages prevented certain fish that come from the ocean. They're very similar to the Pacific salmon, their river herring. They are a NOAA trusted resource for the Atlantic Ocean. These fish come from the ocean up the bay, up the Potomac, and up into the Anacostia. Now, they aren't great swimmers and they aren't great, and so the removal of these 11 fish blockages allowed these fish to move further upstream and opening up potential spawning habitats or more spawning habitats or recruitments for subsequent years.

Robert McCartney: So why is it important to have river herring? Why is it important to get the river herring up the Anacostia? So that people can fish for it, or it's just good for the ecosystem generally, or what's the advantage there?

Phong Trieu: It is good for the ecosystem. I wouldn't say they're a keystone, but they do indicate a healthy ecosystem. But they are a major food source for not only larger fish in our freshwater systems, but they are a large food source for fish out in the bay and in the ocean.

Robert McCartney: How does the Anacostia overall cleanliness compare to the Potomac? Is the Anacostia as clean as the Potomac, or is it now cleaner, or how does that look?

Phong Trieu: I would say that based on fisheries and bug data, it is not as clean, as well based also on the toxic chemicals that we know. It's not as clean as the Potomac River, but definitely in a trajectory that is looking to be similar to the Potomac River.

Robert McCartney: Considering where the Anacostia has started, that's a considerable improvement. Now, I'll share some personal perspective. As we have heard, a lot of work goes to ensure that our water is clean and that work has to continually evolve. That includes always maintaining the pipes, treatment, facilities, and other infrastructure that we already have. It also means upgrades, such as when climate change increases stresses on the system. Improvements are needed as well. When scientific advances reveal that we need to do more to reduce or eliminate toxic chemicals or other contaminants like PFAS that haven't been targeted in the past. Water utilities and other institutions, including local governments, take care of much of this, but the public can do more too, such as by using less salt on your driveway in the winter and disposing properly of pharmaceuticals and dog waste. In many respects, our area is one of the national leaders and a model for others in adopting safe water practices, but we can't afford to get complacent. Here's Fani-González once again.

Natali Fani-González: I've got to say the Washington DC region is one of the most in the front lines when it comes to modernizing or water infrastructure. We have folks learning from us, which is great, but that doesn't mean that we're perfect. We still have a lot of room for improvement, and it takes time, it takes money, and it takes the workforce as well to take on those jobs.

Robert McCartney: I hope you've enjoyed this podcast. We welcome your feedback. Email us at thinkregionally@mwcog.org. This podcast is produced by Lindsey Martin, Amanda Lau, and Steve Kania. I'm your host, Robert McCartney, urging everyone, as always, to think regionally.