Potomac River, would you..........? (dangerous, airport, safe)

[thesefourwalls]

Eat fish you caught? Go wading/swimming? Let your dogs go in?

[North Beach Person]

Is It Safe to Swim?

Potomac Riverkeeper | Drink, Fish, Swim: A Healthy River

[bonnielisabeth]

After you read those useful links, also check out info about Potomac River safety near Great Falls:
River Safety - Great Falls Park (U.S. National Park Service)

[RamblingMan]

Where on the Potomac? The river is about 400 miles long. I wouldn't swim in the Washington channel or eat a catfish from the Anacostia river. On the other hand, I wouldn't hesitate to swim at Point Lookout or to eat a striper from there.

[Matt2789]

As one of the links above points out, the river is highly polluted after heavy rain storms. This is due in large part to the fact that raw sewage (toilet waste) will overfill and it has no where to go but out into the river. After a few days the flow of the river washes that away and the water is not nearly as bad as most locals think.

Eat fish you caught? I would not.

Go wading/swimming? Yes (so long as it is not just after a heavy rain). I often go windsurfing near Reagan airport which requires me to spend a lot of time in the river.

Let your dogs go in? Absolutely

[thesefourwalls]

Good info, thanks

[Moth]

Originally Posted by thesefourwalls

Eat fish you caught? Go wading/swimming? Let your dogs go in?

I have done 2 out of 3 as I have never owned a dog.

I swam in the river as a kid, ironically not far from Little Falls dam which is very dangerous. However, my late father was very learned in the Earth Sciences and knew some spots that were benign. And they were.
Never felt afraid and never caught a whiff of a virus or similiar. However, I would stress that it can be very, very dangerous in many other spots. Swim in the C&O instead- just avoid the Rangers and the Snapping Turtles.

Ate lots of fish from the Potomac. Mostly Perch, Catfish, Sunfish, and Blue Gills. Tasted good and no ill results. The Potomac is not exactly the Cuyahoga.

[armory]

The Potomac river is huge and encompasses every body of water it touches down to Point lookout, where it meets the bay. Has any ever been in the separate creeks and other tributaries that feed into the river? This includes VA as well. Remember it is all tidal so the entire watershed north of the bay is affected.

I hope no one eats crabs or oysters.

If you think it to be dirty now you should have seen it in the 1970s.

[P47P47]

Originally Posted by armory

If you think it to be dirty now you should have seen it in the 1970s.

It was at its worst pre-'72. While Hurricane Agnes did a lot of damage, it also did a good job of scouring away years of pollution from the Potomac (and other Chesapeake watershed rivers).