Discovering Washington’s Lost River If you don't know the health
of the Anacostia River, Evan Ewers, MS biology '07, would be the
first to tell you: don't swim, don't fish, don't drink.
Pollution has led the Anacostia to inherit the ominous title of
"D.C.'s forgotten river," as it flows behind the Capitol
building and through some of Washington's poorest neighborhoods.
But Ewers certainly has not forgotten. This recent graduate is
working to save this once naturally clean water source—with a
little help from some very tiny friends. Ewers aims to restore
the river's health through bioremediation, a process that uses
bacterial organisms to return an altered environment to an
improved ecological state. His work has focused on two specific
types of carcinogenic pollutants: polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs) and monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (MAHs).
By examining the wide range of bacterial species within the
river, Ewers was able to find bacteria that essentially "digest"
the pollution by naturally breakin