WASHINGTON, D.C. – Blame back-to-back snowstorms for all that garbage that’s starting to wash up in the Anacostia River. You may not have known it, but D.C.’s Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) is at work five days a week trying to clean up some 400 tons of debris.

WASA officials say in the last month, they’ve seen three times as much as usual. They’re hoping the city’s bag tax will help with some of the clean up eventually.

WASA isn’t receiving any of the funds from the fee yet. The Department of the Environment has set up a special Anacostia clean up fund, which it will administer.

For now, a spokesman says their first priority is to get reusable bags to low income residents and seniors. The Office of Tax and Revenue says we’ll know how much businesses collected in January, the first month of the bag tax, by the end of March.

See the Marine Trash Skimmer Fox 5 Video.