Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

New York has the Hudson. Paris has the Seine. And Washington DC has the Potomac.


The Potomac River has been celebrated as an environmental success story for its comeback since in the 1960s. However, a new study by the Potomac Conservancy, a local not for profit, finds that the might be in danger of backsliding after a decades-long rehabilitation. The group gives the river a near failing grade of D plus in its first "State of the Nation's River" report.

The Potomac Conservancy's report cites and increasing number of "intersex" fish - fish that show elements of both genders - are being found in the river, along with high levels of dirt, sewage and other pollutants that wash down from farms and fast-expanding Washington suburbs.