WASHINGTON — Monday's mixed Olympic triathlon relay, which included a silver medal for D.C. native Taylor Knibb, intensifies focus on cleaning urban waterways, according to local athletes and environmental advocates looking to lift a decades-long ban on swimming in the Potomac River.
Knibb grew up in D.C. and went to Sidwell Friends School.
Monday's Olympic event in Paris drew extra attention after concerns about water quality in the Seine River in Paris despite a $1.5 billion clean up.
The Seine has been closed for public swimming for more than 100 years, but the city of Paris invested $1.5 billion in cleanup prior to the Olympics. Daily testing showed the water for Monday’s triathlon in Paris was acceptable, despite the Belgian team withdrawing from the competition due to an athlete's illness earlier.
Similar investments have been made in D.C. and Alexandria to clean up the Potomac and Anacostia with remarkable success, according to Riverkeepers on the Potomac and Anacostia rivers.
Swimming in D.C. waters is banned but the city does issue special event permits for events like triathlons which come with rigorous environmental testing.
Athletes are among the most passionate advocates for swimmable urban waters in the region.
In a statement, the DC Triathlon Club said: “As triathletes, we obviously have a personal interest in making open water safe for competition and recreation but clean waterways are essential for a healthy public and environment.”
The Potomac Riverkeeper does weekly testing and hosts swim events at National Harbor in the Maryland section of the river.
Riverkeeper Vice President Betsy Nicholas says the test results are encouraging.
“We do weekly water quality monitoring in 30 different locations in the Potomac River, and that's just in the metro D.C. area. And we're seeing that in many locations, at least 80% to 95% of the time it would be safe for swimming," Nicholas said.
The exception is within 48-hours of any significant rainfall, which washes polluted runoff into the river.
Anacostia Riverkeeper Trey Sherard credits massive infrastructure projects in D.C. and Alexandria designed to capture, divert and treat sewage polluted stormwater for dramatic water safety improvements.
"That shows, just like with the Seine, you can put billions of dollars into the infrastructure work and that is what brings us to being able to discuss it," Sherard said.