President Donald Trump announced on Feb. 16 that the federal government would help clean up and protect the Potomac River after millions of gallons of sewage was dumped into the river in mid-January.
Trump’s announcement comes weeks after a Jan. 19 Potomac Interceptor sewage breach gushed hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage into the river, according to the Potomac Riverkeeper Network (PRN), a nonprofit operating from Washington, DC. District of Columbia Water and Sewage Authority (DC Water) CEO David Gadis called the incident “deeply troubling” in a Feb. 11 open letter. Trump blamed Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and local officials for the handling of the spill before ordering a federal response. (RELATED: DC Admits River Still Poop-Filled Cesspit Weeks After Potentially Unprecedented Sewage Spill)
“I am directing Federal Authorities to immediately provide all necessary Management, Direction, and Coordination to protect the Potomac, the Water Supply in the Capital Region, and our treasured National Resources in our Nation’s Capital City,” Trump said in the post. “I cannot allow incompetent Local ‘Leadership’ to turn the River in the Heart of Washington into a Disaster Zone.”
Trump said FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, would play a key role in the federal response to the crisis.
A DC Water spokesperson previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the leak does not impact drinking water for DC residents or those residing near the nation’s capital.
Moore spokesperson Ammar Moussa argued Trump “has his facts wrong” in a Feb. 16 statement to The hill. “Since the last century, the federal government has been responsible for the Potomac Interceptor, which is the origin of the sewage leak,” he said. “For the last four weeks, the Trump Administration has failed to act, shirking its responsibility and putting people’s health at risk.”
The Potomac River cleanup could continue for months, researchers with the University of Maryland, officials and the PRN previously told The Baltimore Sun.
“This is one of the largest sewage spills in U.S. history. We’re talking almost 300 million gallons and counting,” Potomac Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks said. The only spill of a similar magnitude in recent memory Naujoks found was a 2017 wastewater spill that sent around 230 million gallons of wastewater close to San Diego, California.
Before the collapse, DC Water allocated $625 million towards the rehabilitation of the Potomac Interceptor, the source of the leak, according to DC Water CEO David L. Gadis.