DC Water Updates

Since 1985, phosphorus going into the Chesapeake has been reduced by 75 percent, and nitrogen by 57 percent, according to monitoring by DC Water. The reductions are due to upgrades and operating efficiencies at wastewater treatment plants throughout the Bay. “The wastewater sector is leading the way at this point in our efforts to restore the Bay and local waters,” said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin. “While we’ve reached a critical milestone in reducing pollution from wastewater plants, we need to keep up the momentum and ensure that other sectors do their share.” D.C.’s upgraded Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant currently discharges 4 million pounds of nitrogen per year — well below permitted levels. The upgrades, along with phosphorus detergent bans, have driven the phosphorus reductions.

Meanwhile, the backlash in Georgetown against DC Water’s proposed green infrastructure solutions to the EPA-mandated requirement to reduce stormwater runoff across D.C. has intensified. At the last meeting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E (Georgetown, Burleith), a resolution stating the commission’s “grave doubts about DC Water’s assumptions, analysis and conclusions” passed unanimously.

According to DC Water’s own testing, the 2015 combined stormwater and sewage overflow from the outfalls located in Georgetown was only 8 million gallons — far less than the annual 41.8 million gallons projected by DC Water’s models. At the ANC 2E meeting, the director of DC Water’s Clean Rivers Project, Carlton Ray, said the agency “is in the process of reviewing the metering data.”

“We want them to be rational about this. We want them to design only remedies that are actually needed,” said ANC 2E chair Ron Lewis in an interview with the Georgetown Current.