By María Paula Mijares Torres | Bloomberg News
WASHINGTON — The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it’s helping the District of Columbia clean up and make repairs after a section of sewer line collapsed last month, leading to a massive discharge of raw sewage into the Potomac River.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public emergency over the collapse on Wednesday and asked President Donald Trump in a letter to declare a major disaster. She also asked the federal government to reimburse the city for costs related to the collapse.
The crisis began Jan. 19, when a section of the Potomac Interceptor sewer line in neighboring Maryland ruptured, sending 250 million gallons of untreated sewage into the Potomac over several days. A temporary bypass installed Jan. 24 redirected most of the wastewater through the C&O Canal and back into the system.
“The president’s action authorizes FEMA to coordinate all disaster relief efforts to alleviate the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population and to provide appropriate assistance to save lives, to protect property, public health and safety and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe,” FEMA said in a news release Saturday.
Earlier this week, Trump offered federal support for the collapse, but also faulted regional Democratic leaders for what he called an environmental “calamity.” He previously singled out Maryland Gov. Wes Moore for criticism, accused state and local officials of mismanaging waste systems and failing to seek emergency aid, saying the federal government “has no choice” but to intervene.
Moore pushed back, calling Trump’s comments “typically unhinged,” arguing the federal government has overseen the Potomac Interceptor for a century and that the failed pipe sits on federal land. “The Trump-Vance administration has failed to act,” the governor said.
FEMA will supply equipment and resources it deems “necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency,” the agency said Saturday. The federal government can cover as much as 75% of the cost of emergency protective measures under FEMA’s Public Assistance Program.
FEMA is an agency under the Department of Homeland Security, which is in a single-department government shutdown after Congress failed to agree on a funding bill by a Feb. 13 deadline.
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