The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it has accomplished its remediation of the Potomac Interceptor collapse and fully demobilized the federal presence onsite.
On March 14, wastewater flow was restored to the Potomac Interceptor a full week ahead of schedule, allowing ongoing work to focus on environmental remediation. Led by EPA, in coordination with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), National Park Service (NPS), and other federal partners, remediation activities included:
- Water and soil sampling;
- Raking and removing contaminated material, including sewage-impacted soils;
- Covering disturbed soil with seed mix and erosion-control blankets;
- Removing branches, fallen trees, brush and debris; and
- Flushing the C&O Canal with fresh water from the Potomac.
DC Water continues targeted soil remediation between Locks 10 and 11 of the C&O Canal, with completion expected by the end of May.
EPA said it had been pushing to restore the Potomac to pre-collapse conditions and complete the work ahead of the upcoming America 250 festivities.
“From the moment President Trump received the formal request for federal assistance, he instantly deployed his administration to do everything in our power to help resolve this sewage crisis,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. “EPA answered the call, and today I’m proud to announce that our remediation work is complete months ahead of schedule, in plenty of time for America 250 celebrations.”
“From the onset of this response, we made clear EPA would be on the ground, working at full speed, until the Potomac Interceptor site and surrounding area were fully remediated,” added EPA Assistant Administrator for Water and Senior Response Officer Jessica Kramer. “Thanks to President Trump’s decisive action and leadership and a coordinated effort across federal agencies, we kept that promise and restored the Potomac River to pre-collapse conditions for the enjoyment of residents and visitors to our nation’s capital region this summer.”
The Potomac Interceptor collapse resulted in at least 240 million gallons of raw, untreated sewage discharging into the Potomac River.
Upon President Trump receiving DC Mayor Muriel Bowser’s request for federal assistance, the White House assigned EPA as the lead federal response agency.
Throughout the repair and remediation process, EPA actively coordinated with partners at all levels to ensure appropriate and expeditious measures were utilized to protect public health and prevent additional overflows until the pipe was repaired and the Potomac Interceptor became fully functional again in mid-March.
On March 16, the agency assumed responsibility for water quality sampling previously conducted by the DC Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE). The daily sampling results were processed at EPA’s Environmental Science Center located at Fort Meade, Maryland. The results for each day’s sampling were evaluated and quality assured before being posted publicly on DOEE’s Potomac Interceptor Monitoring webpage.
In addition to water quality and soil sampling, EPA and its federal partners assisted on the ground, providing stormwater diversion and management infrastructure, site remediation work, and general technical assistance.
All of these environmental remediation activities were concluded by May 6.
Source/s: EPA
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