On the Bay

In March of 1791, French architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant came to Washington to build a city atop a marshy expanse. From the hill where the United States Capitol would eventually be placed, he envisioned a city that would grow between two rivers, the Potomac to the west and the Anacostia to the east.

Once called the “Forgotten River,” the Anacostia has been beset with trash, sediment, and pollution from nearby industries for decades.

Glen Hedelson stood in front of two dozen educators, all of them staring at bits and pieces of a micro-computing system at their lab tables, and asked a simple question: “Are you ready to build?”

Runoff water from storms is one of the leading causes of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. James Hunter, Ph.D., a professor at Morgan State University, intends to change that with a special project.

Amidst a constantly changing political scene, the environment and the policies set to solve conservation and restoration challenges seem to have earned a place at the top of many people’s priorities in recent years.