Here's a sewage/wildlife feel good story to lift your spirits before we get into the Spills. A swan mistakenly landed in an open sewage vat in East Sussex, England. The swan was trapped in the Uckfiled (I can't imagine a more appropriate name for a sewage treatment facility) Water Treatment Works because it didn't have enough "runway" room in the sewage vat to get the speed it needed to take off. Animal rescue services were called and after performing some delicate maneuvers with a net and "swan hooks" rescuers were able to remove the trapped waterfowl from the disgusting mess it had gotten into. The bird escaped unharmed but rescuers reportedly got "soaked" - gross.

Now the Spills of the Week:

I'd planned to write about something else today until I read this morning's newspaper. The opinion page was inundated by readers responding to last week's front-page article on the pollution-plagued blighted jewel that is the Anacostia River.

This past summer, a spinach e-coli scare was front page news for days. But before the recent front-page Washington Post article, most readers probably never dreamed that more than 2 billion gallons of raw sewage pour into the Anacostia River every year.

Nation-wide, the figure is a mind-boggling 860 billion gallons of raw or partially-treated sewage that flow straight into our rivers and streams.

Washington, D.C.'s riverfront is set to undergo rejuvenation spurred by construction of a brand new baseball stadium for the Nationals. City officials are banking on the Anacostia River to serve as the scenic centerpiece of massive redevelopment. Ringed by a necklace of new stadiums, office buildings, condominiums and parks, this crown jewel is expected to shine as a new hub of urban life.