Cost to fix pipe burgeons to $30M as new testing probes full impact of sewage spill on Potomac River

D.C. region leaders said the cost of repairing the massive Potomac Interceptor pipeline break continues to rise, and new testing could soon reveal the full impact of the January spill.

The rupture happened along the Clara Barton Parkway near the Capital Beltway. Since January, the collapse has dumped 240-340 million gallons of sewage into the C&O Canal and the Potomac River.

Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments officials said Wednesday that the estimated cost for emergency repair work has now climbed to about $30 million. That number covers the immediate response and rehabilitation efforts, but it is believed that cost could still rise.

Longer-term improvement and modernization estimates for the decades-old sewer line over the next five years are at roughly $390 million, with another $600 million expected over the next decade as the full pipeline is rehabilitated.

COG leaders stressed that the collapse will not be resolved with just an emergency repair but a major infrastructure investment that will stretch well into the future.

“On cost, the near-term emergency work is important, but the long-term challenge is really going to be the rehabilitation program for the Potomac Interceptor,” Steve Bieber, COG’s water resources program director, said.

Because the Interceptor is a federally authorized interstate sewer line serving D.C., Maryland and Virginia, COG and regional partners are already seeking help from the federal...