An enormous sewage spill has sent hundreds of millions of gallons of raw human waste pouring into the Potomac River in what appears to be the largest discharge of its kind in the nation’s history.
Untreated sewage began gushing into the Potomac on Jan. 19, when a section of a 72-inch-wide sewer line called the Potomac Interceptor collapsed near the Clara Barton Parkway in Montgomery County, Md., about five miles upstream of Washington. The pipe normally carries up to 60 million gallons of waste a day.
The sewage flooded into the river unencumbered for about a week, until D.C. Water, the utility that owns and operates the sewer line, was able to divert it to a section of pipe downstream that runs to a water treatment facility. But there have been intermittent sewage spills as recently as Feb. 10, and the utility expects it will be four to six weeks before the pipe is repaired.
Drinking water has not been affected. But initial testing found elevated levels of E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus, the bacteria that causes Staph infections, as well as antibiotic-resistant MRSA, prompting concern about the impact on boating, fishing and other recreational activities that have been flourishing in recent years.
On Monday, the disaster became entangled in national politics, when President Trump posted on Truth Social that local officials, including Governor Wes Moore, Democrat of Maryland, had bungled the cleanup efforts and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would intervene.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump again posted about the sewage spill and sought to link it to an unrelated partial government shutdown that began on Saturday. “These Democrat caused Disasters, both River and Shutdown, will only get worse,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding, “This is a Radical Left caused Environmental Hazard.”
A spokesman for Governor Moore, who has been critical of the president’s policies, responded that Mr. Trump was at fault.
“The President has his facts wrong — again,” the spokesman, Ammar Moussa, said in a statement. “Since the last century, the federal government has been responsible for the Potomac Interceptor, which is the origin of the sewage leak. For the last four weeks, the Trump Administration has failed to act, shirking its responsibility and putting people’s health at risk.”
The amount of nitrate pollution that has flowed into the river was roughly equivalent to a year’s worth of output from a large sewage treatment facility, said Dean Naujoks of the Potomac Riverkeeper Network, an environmental group. The pollution feeds large algae blooms that can disrupt the river’s ecology and strip its waters of oxygen.
He called on Environmental Protection Agency officials, whom he said he has been unable to reach, and Maryland environmental regulators to intervene and enforce clean water laws. Though the sewer infrastructure is owned by D.C. Water, the contamination is affecting downstream waters in Maryland, where commercial fishing for invasive blue catfish is set to ramp up in the coming weeks.
“There needs to be some accountability,” Mr. Naujoks said.
In response to questions, David L. Gadis, the chief executive of D.C. Water, said in a statement that the utility had been working with the E.P.A. and that the incident “underscores the urgent challenge of aging infrastructure.”
“Continued regional and federal partnership can help restore and strengthen one of the most critical water assets in the region,” Mr. Gadis added.
E.P.A. representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Even before the spill began, it was known that repairs were needed to the Potomac Interceptor, which is more than 60 years old. Mr. Gadis has said that D.C. Water is investing $625 million to “rehabilitate” the sewer system.
D.C. Water has said the spill had resulted in an overflow of roughly 243 million gallons of sewage as of Feb. 6. But some environmental groups have estimated that as much as 300 million gallons entered the river over that period.
“Whether it’s 200 million or 300 million gallons, this is an extraordinary ecological and public health disaster,” said Tom Kiernan, the president and chief executive of the conservation group American Rivers, who often rows on the Potomac, and grew up kayaking on the river.
Authorities have not said when people can safely resume activities on the river. Crews with D.C. Water are currently diverting sewage from the broken pipe through a section of the C&O Canal, which runs along the Potomac from Washington to Cumberland, Md.
“Storing it in the canal is the best alternative for the time being, but it still creates significant health risks,” Mr. Kiernan said.
In recent years, the water quality of the Potomac had seen a remarkable improvement, although it remained too polluted for safe swimming or fish consumption, according to a 2025 report card by Potomac Conservancy, an advocacy group.
“In our last report card, pollution levels were down, shad were doing better and more people were out recreating on the river,” said Hedrick Belin, the president of Potomac Conservancy. “But like any report card, it was a snapshot in time, and grades can change over time.”
Mr. Belin said it was too early to predict how the sewage spill would affect the long-term health of the Potomac. But he said the bacteria could threaten the health of people and pets in the short term. Rowing teams from scores of high schools and colleges use the river; the spring racing season is just weeks away.
“People coming into contact with the impacted water or land are at risk of becoming infected with these bacteria, which can lead to serious health conditions,” Rachel Rosenberg Goldstein, a microbiologist and assistant professor at the University of Maryland, said in a statement. “Although most people are not swimming in the frozen river in February, bacteria can survive in freezing temperatures and become active again when temperatures rise.”
The Potomac River starts from a spring in West Virginia and flows about 400 miles until it empties into the Chesapeake Bay. It forms a natural dividing line between West Virginia and Maryland and between Virginia and the District of Columbia.
In a social media post on Monday, President Trump said that FEMA “would play a key role in coordinating” the federal government’s response to the spill.
FEMA typically steps in to assist state and local governments only when the president declares an emergency or major disaster, but in rare examples has played a role in managing smaller incidents. That was the case after a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, in 2023, leading to an explosion and concerns of environmental contamination.
Because there has been no presidential emergency or disaster declaration, FEMA has limited authority and cannot use federal disaster response funds on the incident.
A daily update on FEMA operations posted on Tuesday morning said that regional agency staff were monitoring the situation and had teams ready to respond. Otherwise, the document showed that D.C. Water was working to repair the sewer system.
FEMA representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Trump and Governor Moore, the nation’s only Black governor, have clashed in recent months on other issues. The governor has criticized the president’s immigration policies as well as his deployment of the National Guard to deter crime.
Earlier this month, Mr. Trump hosted an annual meeting of governors at the White House but excluded two Democrats, Mr. Moore and Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado. The snub was notable because Mr. Moore is the vice chairman of the National Governors Association.
Scott Dance is a Times reporter who covers how climate change and extreme weather are transforming society.
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