Kingman Lake is not a true lake, but a 110-acre tidal freshwater impoundment created in the 1920s and 1930s during a massive dredging and channelization project on the Anacostia River to provide a recreational boating area for District of Columbia residents. During this project, the Anacostia River was straightened and a former river bend was left as a pseudo oxbow lake, Kingman Lake. Kingman Lake is still connected to the Anacostia River by two inlets at the northern and southern end of Kingman Island, a wooded 94-acre dredge/fill-created island that separates the lake from the Anacostia River. Kingman Lake is tidally influenced. Kingman Lake was listed in 1998 for elevated levels of organics and metals in fish tissue and sediment. The total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) were approved for Kingman Lake toxic parameters identified in the table below on October 31, 2003.
The TMDLs were challenged in Friends of the Earth v. EPA 446 F.3d 140 (D.C. Cir. 2006) because the loads were not expressed in daily loads. Following the case, a settlement agreement was reached between the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Anacostia Riverkeeper, Friends of the Earth, and Potomac Riverkeeper (Case No.: 1:09-cv-00098-JDB of January 15, 2009). To meet the settlement requirements, EPA will revise the applicable TMDLs to express daily loads. The District Department of the Environment (DDOE) is working with EPA to collect/analyze data and revise the TMDLs for toxic parameters. The table below lists the TMDL water body and pollutant pairs with the current impairment status in the District’s 2014 Integrated Report. In the table below, those water body/pollutant pairs categorized in 4a will be revised. However, in several water bodies, recent data was insufficient to support an impairment determination, or the samples met water quality standards and therefore the water body/pollutant was removed from the impaired list for a particular pollutant.
Summary table of Kingman Lake organics and metals TMDL parameters and 2014 impairment listing status
| Arsenic | Copper | Lead | Mercury | Zinc | 4,4' DDD | 4,4' DDE | 4,4' DDT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4a | 3 | delisted | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Chlordane | Dieldrin | Hepatchlor Epoxide | PAHs | PCBs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 4a | 4a |
Notes
Categories reflect the District’s category definitions in the Integrated Report
Category 3 - There is insufficient available data and/or information to make a use support determination. In this case, they were previously in category 4a, now in category 3.
Category 4a - A State developed TMDL has been approved by EPA or a TMDL has been established by EPA for any segment-pollutant combination.
Delisted - Previously in Category 4a, now unlisted
Black boxes represent parameters not included in TMDL.
For more information, please see the District’s 2014 Integrated Report.
The 2003 final approved TMDL documents for organics and metals in Kingman Lake are included below. The revised documents will be posted when available.
