State of the James

Summary from RTD:

Reducing bacteria levels in the James River in the Richmond area could take seven years or more and cost hundreds of millions of dollars, officials said today.

State environmental officials estimated the extent of the cleanup during a meeting this afternoon at Virginia Commonwealth University.

About 30 people attended the meeting, including state staff members.

State officials said, however, that a 13-mile stretch of the James, from near the Chesterfield-Powhatan line to the Boulevard Bridge in Richmond, now meets bacteria limits.

That means the stretch, which includes the popular Pony Pasture Rapids area of South Richmond, is clean enough for swimming.

Other tidbits include that the James is unsafe for swimming from the Boulevard Bridge to Hopewell due to high bacteria levels. I hope to find a more complete version of the study and will post it once I can.

I want to point out an excellent post by brother blogger Scott at Oregon Hill who makes some excellent points here.