Raw sewage from a 60-year-old pipe has dumped roughly 300 million gallons of waste into the Potomac Riverin what is possibly the largest sewage overflow in U.S. history, according to environmental advocates and regional officials.
DC Water said last week that a section of its sewer system known as the Potomac Interceptor collapsed along the Clara Barton Parkway on Jan. 19, triggering a massive discharge of untreated wastewater into the river.
In a press release, the utility estimated that approximately243 million gallons of wastewaterhad overflowed from the collapse site. On Monday, DC Water saidthere had been an additional “significant overflow” on Sunday during a period of high river flow, noting that some bypass pumps were not in service at the time.
ThePotomac Riverkeeper Network, a local environmental advocacy organization, claimed in a FacebookpostWednesday that the total volume of sewage released had surpassed300 million gallons.
An analysis of the water by theUniversity of Maryland(UMD) and the Riverkeepers found "high levels of fecal-related bacteria and disease-causing pathogens" - which they say raise "urgent public health concerns."
"Raw sewage from a 60-year-old pipe has vomited roughly 300 million gallons into the Potomac River and is still not fully contained," said PRKN President Betsy Nicholas.
Dean Naujoks, who holds the title of Potomac Riverkeeper, toldThe Baltimore Sunthat the only comparable sewage spill he could recall occurred in 2017 along the U.S.-Mexico border, when roughly230 million gallonsof wastewater were released.
“The Potomac River is a shared natural treasure, and any event that threatens its health understandably causes concern, frustration, and a sense of loss,” DC Water CEO David L. Gadis said in an open letter released Wednesday. “Those feelings are not only valid — but they are also shared by all of us at DC Water.”
Environmental experts say the scale of the spill is difficult to contextualize but extraordinary by regional standards.
Gussie Maguire, a Maryland staff scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, compared the volume released in Washington to annual sewage overflow totals in Baltimore.
Source: ZeroHedge News
