In 2015, we helped establish a new coalition, Northern Virginia Healthy Communities, and led the effort to develop a broad and diverse collaborative of organizations and community leaders committed to enhance public health, and protect our region’s watersheds and natural resources.
In this issue: Northern Virginia Healthy Communities; An Incinerator Win in Baltimore; Winning Primaries in Baltimore; Cleaning up the Anacostia; and more.
The economic and social impact of climate change on our communities cannot be understated. With the risk of increased flooding and drought, and the Trump Administration’s promise to scrap regulations restricting production of fossil fuels, the need for local authorities and community-based organizations in the development of climate mitigation and adaptation strategies has never been this urgent.
The City of Alexandria is dumping raw sewage into our waterways - and has been for more than 40 years. Alexandria is not only putting public health at risk, it is also breaking state and federal law. This uncontrolled toxic dumping is not only health hazard to city residents and visitors, but also multiple downstream communities, and undermines the rights of Virginians to drinkable, swimmable, and fishable water.
Every time it rains, the combined sewer systems of Washington D.C. and the City of Alexandria dump untreated sewage into the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. Although the District has begun projects designed to prevent raw sewage from entering local waterways and rivers, such as holding tunnels, Alexandria recently missed an opportunity to adopt a modern Long Term Control Plan (LTCP) for its own aging sewer system.
