Lawmakers want answers about what caused one of the largest sewage spills in U.S. history to happen in the backyard of Washington, D.C.
A Feb. 20 letter seeks documents from D.C. Water’s CEO and General Manager, David Gadis, about the January rupture of a 54-mile-long sewage line called the Potomac Interceptor, which carries about 60 million gallons of wastewater daily.
The line collapsed on Jan. 19 along the Clara Barton Parkway and dumped untreated sewage into the Potomac River from the C and O Canal National Historic Park in Montgomery County, Maryland.
The collapse dumped about 243 million gallons of sewage into the Potomac River, according to the D.C. water authority.
02 20 2026 Letter to DC Water by scott.mcclallen
U.S. Republican Rep. Brett Guthrie, (KY-2), the chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Republican Rep. John Joyce (PA-13), the chairman of the subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, and Republican Rep. Gary Palmer (AL-6), the chairman of the subcommittee on Environment, signed the letter.
The letter said that D.C Water and Sewer Authority knew that the sewage line was at risk of failure in May 2025, when it approved an emergency contract worth $44 million. The letter asked Gadis for answers.
D.C. Water hired Gadis in 2018. Gadis previously worked at Veolia North America, an engineering firm that paid a $53 million settlement related to the Flint Water Crisis.
POOTOMAC CALAMITY UPDATE: It's not just the incompetence in the slow/lackluster response from DC Water that is problematic... but also leadership's laughable lack of proactivity or knowledge of the pipeline's condition before it ruptured. https://t.co/7a3m9zyRYs
— Spencer Brown (@SpencerBrown) February 21, 2026
Did we really expect more from the Flint water disaster guy? https://t.co/trYvys44t3
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) February 21, 2026
I live very close to the Potomac River. The sewage crisis that’s brewing will invite an environmental and biodiversity disaster.
— Gabriella Hoffman (@Gabby_Hoffman) February 16, 2026
Virtual silence from so-called environmentalists who run DC, MD, and VA.
Thank you @EPA & @POTUS for stepping in to save our beloved river! pic.twitter.com/hGVLFyoXWf
🚨 NOW: DC and Maryland Democrats are STILL pumping raw sewage DIRECTLY into waterways leading to the Potomac River, with NO end in sight
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 16, 2026
Where the hell are the environmentalists??!
Oh that’s right — they don’t care, b/c this isn’t politically expedient pic.twitter.com/761u6BYRMS
On Feb. 18, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a local public emergency and asked for federal help and funding.
The massive sewage spill shows the hypocrisy of the Left.
Democrats push paper straws that don't work to reduce landfill waste and want to ban plastic bags. While Democrats complain that cow farts will eventually kill us through climate change, they mostly ignored and downplayed this massive sewer spill.
If this were an oil spill, Democrats would be live-streaming by the river since Jan. 19. But this environmental disaster doesn't fit their playbook, so it's (D)ifferent.
The sewage spill precedes America's 250th birthday, which is expected to bring millions of visitors to the nation's Capitol.
When the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion & leak happened, it led the news for WEEKS. That spill topped out at MAYBE 210 million gallons. We're at 250 million gallons of waste in the Potomac already AND COUNTING. There's almost no media coverage, (try googling, it's being covered…
— Jake Novak (@jakejakeny) February 16, 2026