![]() It’s an unsustainable combination, and conditions are only expected to get worse.Īnother problem is that the basin was never meant to accommodate the sheer number of people who come every year. Making matters worse, the basin was constructed on manmade land and is slowly sinking. That makes a huge difference in the severity of storm surges and high tide flooding. ![]() Scientists estimate an increase of 11 inches or so in the past 90 years. “I didn’t realize conditions were this bad,” I say.ĭue to climate change and runoff caused by development along the river, water levels in the Potomac River have risen since the Tidal Basin’s construction as part of the National Mall in the late 1800s. “I’ve found river snails up on the lawn.”įrankly, I’m kind of shocked. “You don’t expect to find driftwood under the cherry trees, do you?” she asks. Instead, there’s a small flock of Canada geese poking in the mud.ĭurkin points to a pile of driftwood under a tree. In one 100-foot-long swath, no cherry trees remain at all. Many of the trees in this section west of the Jefferson Memorial are dying-or dead-from soil compaction and exposure to the brackish water. We pass by the exposed roots of the famed cherry trees, which run like twisted veins just beyond the water’s edge. “If someone wanted to walk from here to the FDR Memorial across the way, how would they even do it?” asks Durkin. At high tide, when the Potomac River swells and the basin fills with millions of gallons of water, this area is completely submerged. The sidewalk itself is nothing but mud.įrom the Jefferson Memorial, she leads me clockwise around the Tidal Basin path, as we gingerly try to avoid the muck. Sections of the wall have separated from the concrete walkway and lean precariously over the water’s edge. Durkin, executive vice president of the nonprofit Trust for the National Mall, points out the crumbling stone seawall, which encircles the pond for about 2 miles. As Teresa Durkin walks around Washington, D.C.’s iconic Tidal Basin, she is frustrated by what she sees.
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