XPost: dc.politics, alt.wastewater, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: dc@dems.org   
      
   Mayor Muriel Bowser has issued a request for federal support and is   
   seeking reimbursement for costs to D.C. and its agencies dealing with a   
   ruptured pipe that has dumped over 200 million gallons of wastewater   
   into the Potomac River.   
      
   Bowser declared a public emergency Wednesday night, saying D.C. agencies   
   have coordinated to manage the incident under the District Emergency   
   Operations Plan.   
      
   “The main piece of that is that the District is requesting reimbursement   
   for costs that have been incurred by the District and D.C. Water, for   
   both the repairs that are going on and remediation,” D.C. Deputy Mayor   
   for Public Safety and Justice Lindsey Appiah said during a news briefing   
   Wednesday.   
      
   In the mayor’s request for federal support, she asked for “100%   
   reimbursement for costs incurred” by the District and D.C. Water.   
      
   Appiah added that city government has been coordinating support from   
   federal agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the   
   National Park Service and the Environmental Protection Agency.   
      
   D.C.’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency has been   
   working since Feb. 6 to conduct water testing, provide guidance to the   
   community, coordinate with other agencies and evaluate the economic   
   impacts, according to the mayor’s emergency declaration.   
      
   “We’re making the specific requests that we know that the District needs   
   to ensure the safety of our waterways,” Appiah said. “Federal entities   
   do exist to support this type of activity, and District residents   
   deserve that.”   
      
   Appiah said federal agencies and President Donald Trump’s administration   
   have been “operating within their lane,” but the D.C. government is in a   
   unique position where they “often have to coordinate lots of federal   
   entities.”   
      
   “One of the reasons that the mayor has made the decision to make this   
   request of a presidential declaration is because it allows the president   
   to really direct FEMA to provide those funds, and that’s a little bit   
   different from kind of the normal grant process of determining what   
   jurisdictions are going to get,” Appiah said.   
      
   When asked why the request is coming now, about a month after the pipe   
   broke, Appiah said the decision was based on ongoing assessments of what   
   would help the city speed up repairs and cleanup, especially with spring   
   approaching and more people expected to use water recreationally.   
      
   Appiah, who is the acting incident commander in this case, said city   
   agencies and regional partners in Maryland and Virginia are working to   
   respond to the incident, calling it a regional effort.   
      
   “It’s a regional system and a regional response,” she said.   
      
   Lawmakers in neighboring Maryland — where the section of the sewer pipe   
   broke along Clara Barton Parkway in Montgomery County — sent a letter to   
   D.C. Water on Wednesday, pushing for an environmental remediation plan   
   that includes continued testing and an evaluation for human impact.   
      
   In the letter to D.C. Water, congressional lawmakers from Maryland and   
   Virginia have also called for a strong environmental remediation plan,   
   public briefings and vigilant monitoring of bacteria.   
      
   The lawmakers requested that D.C. Water provide regular updates on the   
   state of repairs, work on a comprehensive assessment and “commit to   
   sustained water quality monitoring well into the spring.”   
      
   President Trump said Monday he is directing federal authorities to step   
   in to coordinate the response and protect the region’s water supply. In   
   a post on social media, he faulted Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and other   
   “local Democrat leaders” who he said have “mismanaged” the   
   “ecological   
   disaster.”   
      
   Moore pushed back, saying the president has been responsible for the   
   Potomac Interceptor sewer line for decades, adding that the Trump   
   administration has failed to act for the last four weeks and has put   
   people’s lives at risk.   
      
   Local reporter Martin Austermuhle with the 51st told WTOP’s Nick   
   Iannelli on Wednesday night that the mayor’s request opens “the spigot   
   of federal funding.”   
      
   “That could be for everything from actual fixes that D.C. Water is doing   
   on the sewage pipe to any sort of impacts that local businesses in the   
   District could suffer,” he said.   
      
   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.   
      
   “They’re just realizing how serious the situation is. And the more   
   cynical way to look at it is that the president made a very loud case   
   this week that something needs to be done, and the mayor is responding,”   
   Austermuhle said of the seemingly late response from the Bowser   
   administration.   
      
   Austermuhle noted that there have long been health advisories   
   surrounding D.C.’s river, but ” this is much more significant than that.”   
      
   https://wtop.com/dc/2026/02/dc-mayor-declares-public-emergency-r   
   quests-federal-support-in-potomac-river-sewage-leak/   
      
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