Our new report finds the Potomac River’s health is improving, but it’s not yet safe for swimming and fishing
What will it take to return clean, safe water to our hometown river?
Harper’s ferry
Potomac Conservancy released its 2023 Potomac River Report Card and announced a new river health grade. Our report finds the Potomac River's health is improving, but it’s not yet safe for swimming and fishing.
Potomac Conservancy assessed over 20 ecosystem health indicators and graded the river a “B,” up from a “B-” three years ago and a dreadful “D” in 2011.
The river’s improving health is a powerful testament to decades of hard work to reduce pollution and restore local water quality. Today, it’s common to witness bald eagles, shad, and other wildlife thriving along the river and crowds of people visiting its shorelines and enjoying water activities.
There’s been great progress to clean up our “Nation’s River,” but pollution remains a problem.
Until the Potomac River is safe enough for us to eat its fish and swim in its waters without risking our health, our job’s not done.
Why is it important we restore the Potomac River's health?
Paddlers on the potomac river
It’s simple. Our community deserves clean water.
The Potomac is the country’s wildest urban river and the life force of our region. Five million people depend on the river for drinking water and rely on it for outdoor enjoyment. Thousands of plants and animals and a rich diversity of habitats can be found along its 400 miles stretching from the Appalachians to the rapids at Great Falls and the tidal waters that flow into the Chesapeake Bay.
A clean and safe Potomac is the foundation of a vibrant, healthy community where nature and people thrive. It is on all of us to do our part to protect our hometown river and leave a legacy of clean water for future generations.
Why did the grade improve this year?
potomac river and the lincoln memorial
This year’s grade improvement didn't just happen overnight. The Potomac’s comeback has taken decades of hard work driven by conservation efforts following the Clean Water Act of 1972. Federal, state, and conservation partners, farms, industry, volunteers, advocates, and community members, like you, have all contributed to its success.
Our 2023 Potomac River Report Card assesses over 20 ecosystem indicators and offers insights into the Potomac’s improving conditions.
The good news:
🚜 Industrial and farming pollution are declining
🦅 Bald eagles, fish, and local wildlife are rebounding
🎣 More shoreline visitors, anglers, and water recreationists are enjoying the Potomac
The bad news:
⚠️ Polluted urban runoff is on the rise and threatens decades of progress
🗑 Runoff pollutes local waterways with fertilizers, street oils, trash, sediment, and diluted sewage
🌳 Rapid deforestation in the region is weakening nature’s defenses against polluted runoff
🌡 The climate crisis is straining the local ecosystem from intensifying storms, lengthening droughts, rising river levels, and warming stream temperatures
Dive into the Potomac River Report Card to learn more and find out what it’s going to take to restore swimmable and fishable waters to our community.
How can you help?
volunteers picking up shoreline trash
We’re so close to enjoying a swimmable and fishable Potomac River.
Every piece of litter removed from the shorelines, every acorn collected, and every volunteer that donates their time and efforts moves the needle for a healthy and safe Potomac River.
We can’t let the river’s health stall out. At this critical moment in the river’s comeback, we must continue to take action for clean water for everyone in our community.
About the Report Card
Potomac Conservancy's Potomac River Report Card presents and assesses data on five significant river health indicators: pollution, fish, habitat, land, and people. Data sets for some indicators take time to become publicly available, so we have aggregated and assessed data through 2020. Using an established baseline and set of benchmarks, the Conservancy measures restoration progress and assigns the Potomac River a grade. The overall grade has been weighted to account for non-quantifiable, inaccessible, or outdated data on water quality threats. These threats include but are not limited to harmful algal blooms, climate change, endocrine-disrupting compounds, PCBs, aquatic diseases, and others.