" as it is called, would
prohibit its recreational use by anyone without a strong stomach. It
further disrupts aquatic life balances, and periodically dies and decays
aromatically, setting off whole new cycles of oxygen depletion, fish
kills, stink, and fertilization.

The problem is one of fertility, of course, and stems from the huge
quantities of nitrogen and phosphorus perennially present in the water.
Some of this comes down from the upper river--where, as we noted, much
of it derives from land runoff--but by far the greatest part of it
originates at the metropolis and enters the river through the effluent
of waste treatment plants. Efficiency of operation has hardly anything
to do with it, for even the best standard treatment has little effect on
nutrients.

Eutrophication is the scientific name of this kind of overenrichment. It
is occurring in many places, Lake Erie being the best-known single
example in this country. Though its causes are mainly known, the process
itself is still not fully understood, particularly in regard to the
function of nitrogen and the way it works. But the other key element,
phosphorus, has been more amenable to study and to possible action. It
occurs in body wastes, in artificial fertilizers, as a by-product of
natural decay, and very notably in detergents. Some eight tons of it are
released into the estuary each day from the treatment plants in addition
to the undetermined but much smaller amounts arriving from upriver, and
the usual overall accumulation is enough to make the river's phosphorus
content exceed that considered desirable all the way from Theodore
Roosevelt Island to Quantico, Virginia, and below, which represents the
general extent of the summertime "blooms."

Dilapidation begets disrespect, and the abused and often repellent
waters of the upper estuary are undoubtedly subjected to much additional
miscellaneous pollution by people who believe perhaps that a little more
cannot possibly matter. Again, Federal or Federally connected
institutions have not been setting the best possible example, and there
are many of them around the capital city. Unwarranted waste discharges
of one kind or another have been traced to most of the military
installations fronting the river, to military hospitals, to government
heating plants, to the National Zoo, to National Parks, and to similar
Federal sources including the marinas already mentioned. In most cases,
measures are now being ta