See his post from this afternoon on the idea of whittling out some green/park space on the * west * side of 1st Street NW on the federally-owned McMillan Reservoir side.
An option as part of the McMillan Sand Filtration site development project?
Nope.
Read below.
Posted by Aaron Wiener on Sep. 21, 2012 at 4:04 pm
In response to my post yesterday on the
controversy over the development of the McMillan Sand Filtration Site, a number
of readers commented that the community desire for additional park space could
be satisfied by incorporating a portion of the McMillan reservoir area across
First Street NW. The reservoir and its surrounding green space are currently
fenced off, but moving the fence to the edge of the reservoir, some of you
suggested, would provide more than ample greenery to complement the nine acres
of open space in the planned development across the street.
Cheryl Cort of the Coalition for Smarter
Growth commented:
"Note that the reservoir across the street
from the 25-acre sand filtration site in question is 68 acres. Many other cities used their drinking water
reservoirs as a recreational amenity. We
should be able to as well. We dont need
more than the already generous amount of park space for the proposed
development plan, we need the Army Corps of Engineers to work with us on its
68-acre reservoir site that contains the original park and fountain."
That seemed like a sensible idea, so I got in
touch with Tom Jacobus of the Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the
reservoir. His answer? Not gonna happen.
``From a water treatment point of view, it
would not be possible,`` Jacobus said. ``The green space on the east side are
underground storage reservoirs. It`s finished water so those have to be
protected.``
The Environmental Protection Agency, he said,
has strict regulations about finished water—that is, water that`s already been
treated and is ready to go down your gullet—that would prevent public access to
the area.
``For the security and integrity of the water
system, we would need to keep the fences where they are,`` he said. ``There is
a general rule, for finished water, for water that is ready to be drunk, that
it be isolated on the surface, because of the potential for even inadvertant
damage.``
The water that`s visible to the public, he
explained, has not yet been treated, but the water under the green areas has,
and it can`t be trampled on by picnickers and kite-flyers.
So there you have it. Looks like the
neighborhood will have to make do with whatever park space it can eke out of
the sand filtration site.
+++
And look! Greater Greater Washington picked up this story:
No park at McMillan: The Army Corps of Engineers says it's impossible to open McMillan Reservoir to the public as park land. The issue isn't the above-ground water, but rather the below-ground reservoirs to the east. (City Paper).
+++
And look! Greater Greater Washington picked up this story:
No park at McMillan: The Army Corps of Engineers says it's impossible to open McMillan Reservoir to the public as park land. The issue isn't the above-ground water, but rather the below-ground reservoirs to the east. (City Paper).
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