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Washington's Sewage Apocalypse
On January 19, a six-foot-wide sewer pipe broke beneath the land alongside the Potomac River, nine miles northwest of the Lincoln Memorial. A landslide of dirt and rocks dammed the flow, and the products of a million toilets, showers, sinks, and washing machines in the Washington, D.C., suburbs shot up to the surface and gushed into the watershed. According to researchers at the University of Maryland, it was one of the worst raw-sewage spills in U.S. history.
TL;DR
- A sewer pipe break on January 19 released millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac River watershed.
- DC Water is investigating the cause, with officials hinting at large boulders used in construction as a potential culprit.
- The spill contaminated the C&O Canal and bypassed through it for nearly two months.
- The incident highlights the challenge of managing aging infrastructure with lost design knowledge.
- While DC Water claims to have followed procedures, independent experts question the inspection reports and the speed of the repair.