DC Water forewarns 10 months of repairs for Potomac sewage spill

DC Water says the underground sewer line that burst and began spewing wastewater into the Potomac River four weeks ago could take another 10 months to repair.

Although DC Water crews continue to successfully divert the majority of the sewage away from the river, officials say more than 240 million gallons of sewage has made its way into the Potomac.

In the latest spillover, a mass of flushed wipes clogged the utility company’s temporary pumps, releasing an additional 600,000 gallons of sewage water into the Potomac.

“The risk of flow entering the Potomac River exists until we can get the flow back into the Potomac Interceptor. Right now, it’s bypassed through the C&O Canal and then routed back into the Potomac Interceptor,” DC Water COO Matthew Brown said.

“And so that is our goal. That is what we are working towards. And there are people on site 24 hours a day working to make this happen,” he said.

Brown is the first high-level DC Water official to have spoken publicly about the incident.

His statement comes after Maryland, Virginia and D.C. issued warnings to avoid the river from the Interstate 495 bridge and down.

“I’ve seen it characterized as one of the major ecological disasters in the eastern part of the United States,” said Maryland Del. Linda Foley, D-Montgomery County, at Friday’s Subcommittee on the Environment briefing.

“It is not only polluting the Potomac, but it is also threatening the Chesapeake Bay and environs,” she said.

D.C. issued it’s strongest warning Thursday, urging residents to “not touch the Potomac River, or engage in any Potomac recreational activities including fishing,” per the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment.