For Immediate Release
October 18, 2004

Plantings Absorb Storm Runoff

Volunteers from several conservation groups will help Pepco on Thursday (Oct. 21) to complete installation of a second rain garden at the utility's Benning Road Service Center in the Anacostia River Watershed. A rain garden is a low impact development technique that decreases river pollution by increasing ground absorption of storm water runoff near its source.

Rain Gardens are built in low-lying areas, with specific layers of soil, sand and organic mulch to filter the rain as it runs off paved roads, parking lots and developed land. The soil holds the rainwater and nourishes the garden's grasses, trees and flowers.

Pepco has a long history of supporting restoration efforts in the Anacostia Basin through restoring wetlands, supporting the revival of the Anacostia fishery through construction of a new Aquatic Resource Education Center in Anacostia Park, diminishing storm water runoff and instituting strong recycling programs. Despite improvement efforts, the Anacostia remains listed as one of the ten most polluted rivers in the nation.

"While there are many efforts underway to restore the Anacostia, there is still much more work to be done," said Stan Wisniewski, Vice President-Pepco Operations. "That is why Pepco, as a business with significant land holdings in the watershed, is trying to do more to make a difference."

The new rain garden is funded in part by a grant from the District of Columbia Environmental Health Administration. The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin managed the rain garden's installation. Both the commission and Pepco are members of the Anacostia River Business Coalition, an association of businesses interested in reducing non-point source pollution in the watershed. Volunteers from the coalition, the Earth Conservation Corps, D.C. Greenworks, and Shaw Ecovillage, planted native vegetation in the new rain garden.

The garden, about 155 feet in length, 6 ½ feet in width and 30 inches in depth, is designed to capture and filter about 9,000 gallons of runoff during a typical summer thunderstorm.

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About Pepco: For more than 100 years, Pepco has served the people of the Washington metropolitan area with clean, reliable and low-cost electricity. Pepco, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM), provides electricity transmission and distribution services to more than 700,000 customers in the District of Columbia and major portions of Prince George`s and Montgomery County in Maryland.