A major sewer pipe that travels underneath the Potomac River from Virginia to Maryland has broken, releasing hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park in Maryland and the Potomac River.
The break has sent a massive torrent of sewage into part of the park and into the nation’s capital. This event is a prime opportunity for jokes and political humor, but it’s also serious business.
Within five days of the break on January 19 near Lockhouse 10 of the C&O Canal, the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water), in conjunction with the National Park Service (NPS), determined the need to divert flow (above photo) around the damaged section of the pipe so excavation and repairs could begin, according to Rebecca Roland, public affairs specialist with NPS’s Natural Resource Office of Communications. Then, contractors installed a bypass system on two properties administered by NPS, the C&O Canal NHP, and Clara Barton Parkway, a unit of the George Washington Memorial Parkway to shunt the sewage into a 2,700-foot-long section of canal…