Later this week, D.C. Water expects to begin excavating near the collapsed section of the Potomac Interceptor sewer line, to assess the damage to the pipe and remove boulders wedged inside.
At the same time, plans for long-term cleanup are coming together.
It’s been about a month since the Jan. 19 break, which spilled millions of gallons of untreated wastewater into the Potomac River. The utility is prioritizing emergency repairs and beginning to develop long-term plans to clean up land near the C&O Canal — as well as the Potomac River.
As of Wednesday morning, D.C. Water has installed six of seven high-capacity pumps, a few hundred yards above the collapse site, under the exit ramp off the American Legion Bridge onto the Clara Barton Parkway.
The pumps are diverting sewage from above the collapse point to an isolated section of the C&O Canal, to bypass the break, before being steered back into the Interceptor below the damaged pipe.
This week, after blocking wastewater flow to the collapse site, D.C. Water will finally be able to see the extent of the damage, remove the rock dam and replace the pipe. The utility estimated it will be 4 to 6 weeks until normal flow is returned to the Interceptor.
“I think the best thing D.C. Water can do right now is to get that emergency repair done, so that we eliminate the risk of overflow, and can eliminate the use of that bypass system,” said D.C. Water spokeswoman Sherri Lewis, echoing the priorities of CEO David Gadis, in a Feb. 11 open letter.
Nearby, the smell of sewage is obvious, and visual evidence of the spill, including toilet paper, hangs on underbrush in the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park.
“This is one of the areas, obviously, that we are working on, as far as our environmental restoration plans,” Lewis said. “We’re working with our federal, state and local regulators on what that environmental restoration plan will entail, and we’ll start that work as soon as we get that plan approved, and we’ll certainly release that to the public.”
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump said the Federal Emergency Management Agency will play a key role in coordinating the response.