At least 240 million gallons of wastewater spilled into the waterway last month, the Environmental Protection Agency said.
President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration Saturday for the District of Columbia following a massive raw sewage spill into the Potomac River, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced.
The White House named the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the lead federal agency in response to at least 240 million gallons of wastewater discharged from the Potomac Interceptor sewage line into the waterway last month. Trump blamed local leaders for not responding adequately to the crisis, while governors blamed the federal government.
There is no impact to the drinking water provided to the Washington, D.C., metro area, according to an EPA news release.
However, water samples collected from the Potomac River have returned high levels of E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus, the bacteria that causes staph infections, according to University of Maryland researchers.
“The Potomac Interceptor collapse and overflow is a sewage crisis of historic proportions,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in the news release.
At Trump’s direction, both the EPA and FEMA will collaborate with local and state partners on the Potomac River spill.
Zeldin additionally appointed Assistant Administrator for Water Jessica Kramer as the senior response officer for the emergency.
“We will work thoroughly and efficiently to support the long-term health of the Potomac, the region’s water supply, and local residents and communities,” Kramer said in the EPA news release.
Initially, state and local leaders did not request federal assistance.
But Trump, blaming “incompetent” local and state management for the spill, directed on Feb. 16 federal emergency teams to respond to the crisis anyway, stating he does not want “the river in the heart of Washington into a disaster zone.”
“There is a massive Ecological Disaster unfolding in the Potomac River as a result of the Gross Mismanagement of Local Democrat Leaders, particularly, Governor Wes Moore, of Maryland,” the president posted on Truth Social.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email that the president has his facts wrong and that the federal government is responsible for the Potomac Interceptor.
By Troy Myers
