The Potomac River (IMAGE)

University of Maryland

The Potomac River

Caption

Alkaline minerals wash down from headwater streams and tributaries of the 14,700-square-mile Potomac River watershed to Washington D.C., where the river provides the nation's capital with drinking water and receives treated sewage before emptying into the Chesapeake Bay. High alkalinity can make drinking water treatment more expensive, adds to the regulatory requirements for discharging treated sewage, and compounds the environmental problems of the nation's largest estuary.

Credit

Photo: Michael Pennino

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