(Washington, DC) The District Department of the Environment (DDOE) has begun construction on a phenomenal new project that reemphasizes the mission of its Watershed Protection Division (WPD): to conserve the soil and water resources of the District of Columbia and to protect its watersheds from nonpoint source pollution.

DDOE's Watershed Protection Divisions' Low Impact Development (LID) project, under development at the National Park Service, Fort Dupont Ice Skating Rink, will treat stormwater pollution before it reaches the Anacostia River. Small, attractive, and cost-effective retrofit landscape design techniques that store, filter, evaporate and infiltrate runoff close to its source will be used to transform almost 2.5 acres of parking lot with bio-retention cells. Bio-retention cells are also known as "rain gardens."

The LID project is one of the projects identified through the Watershed Implementation Plan for the Fort Dupont watershed. It is developed, funded and managed by the District Department of the Environments' Watershed Protection Division.