Major Virginia river listed as ‘most endangered’ in nation

An iconic Virginia river was just listed as the “most endangered” river in the country and clean water advocates urge more action to be taken in order to prevent further threats to drinking water.

A new report by the group American Rivers listed the Potomac River as the most endangered, facing a number of pressing threats. Earlier this year, a sewage line failure spilled more than 250 million gallons of untreated sewage into the river. Adding to the issue, little information has been gleaned on how water consumption from hundreds of data centers will impact the Potomac.

Pat Calvert, Virginia director of conservation for American Rivers, said the challenges facing the Potomac are a unique threat to water safety.

“Kind of a one-two punch of a historic sewage spill happening, all while (the) rapidly expanding footprint of these data centers across the watershed were also threatening water availability and quality for our nation’s river,” Calvert explained.

In the area around the sewage spill, bacteria levels were more than 12,000 times higher than the recreational limit. The Potomac River basin is home to more than 6 million people across the Commonwealth and four other states.

Betsy Nicholas, president of the Potomac Riverkeeper Network, warned people should take all the collective effects on the Potomac’s health into account.

“When you see them stacked together like this, that’s why we’re really concerned that if we don’t start taking water into consideration in the decisions we’re making, we’re going to lose the ability to use this river as our drinking water source,” Nicholas stressed.

Northern Virginia is home to what has been dubbed “Data Center Alley.” More than 300 data centers dot the area, with some projections suggesting it could grow to 1,000 facilities in the future.

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