Overview
- The Justice Department, filing Monday on behalf of the EPA, sued DC Water and the District under the Clean Water Act as Maryland filed a separate state case seeking penalties and damages.
- A 72-inch segment of the Potomac Interceptor collapsed Jan. 19 under the C&O Canal in Montgomery County, sending more than 200 million gallons—reported at roughly 240 to 244 million—of untreated sewage into the river.
- The Potomac Interceptor is a mid-20th-century sewer that carries wastewater from parts of Maryland, Virginia, and D.C. to Washington’s treatment system, and prior inspections documented widespread corrosion.
- During the emergency bypass, DC Water routed flow through part of the C&O Canal using high-powered pumps that clogged, and on Feb. 8 the utility reported an added 500,000-gallon discharge before all releases stopped within 21 days and repairs finished in 55 days.
- The federal suit seeks civil penalties, pipe assessments and rehabilitation, pollutant mitigation, and an enhanced operations and maintenance plan, while Maryland asks up to $10,000 per day, testing and cleanup costs, and natural resource damages; DC Water says it is accelerating work on about 2,700 feet of pipe and that drinking water was not affected.