For all the latest developments in Congress, follow 小萝莉影视 Capitol Hill correspondent Mitchell Miller at聽Today on the Hill.
Key officials involved in the cleanup of a massive sewage spill in the Potomac River testified Wednesday at a congressional hearing that they quickly responded after a pipe burst and that public health was never at risk.
But they were pressed by lawmakers, who remain concerned about problems revealed by the environmental disaster, which sent more than 240 million gallons of sewage into the river in January.
“What led to the collapse? Was this failure preventable? Were there warning signs that were being ignored or even missed?” asked Pennsylvania Rep. John Joyce, who chairs the House Emergency and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
The chair of the overall committee, Kentucky Rep. Brett Guthrie, had a series of questions about delays linked to an effort by D.C. Water to get a permit for replacing the pipe that eventually broke. He cited a article published earlier this year.
“I’m trying to see what do we need to fix?” he asked. “How do we do it quicker?”
“For construction permits proposed by utilities, those could be six months to a year for a construction-type permit,” said Edward Wenschhof, acting superintendent of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park. “There are others that are identified as high priority.”
When Guthrie asked if the threat of the pipe bursting was imminent, Wenschhof indicated that was a matter of ongoing litigation.
The Department of Justice filed a Clean Water Act earlier this year related to the interceptor’s collapse.
David Gadis, CEO and general manager of D.C. Water, has sought to reassure the public his agency is doing all it can to move forward with repairs and monitoring of the river.
“The incident did not occur because D.C. Water ignored infrastructure challenges,鈥� Gadis said in prepared testimony. 鈥淩ather, it occurred within one of the nation鈥檚 oldest and most complex wastewater systems, a system D.C. Water has spent decades modernizing, rehabilitating and improving for the benefit of the region and the environment.”
The spill, involving a system known as the , occurred when a large pipe burst near the C&O Canal in Cabin John, Maryland.
People who live in the area complained during a Glen Echo Town Hall on Monday night that they can still smell the sewage.
One man said, 鈥淚 always open the window and it鈥檚 putrid!鈥�
Wednesday’s hearing was entitled, 鈥淐orrosion, Collapse, and Clean-Up: Examining the Potomac Interceptor Collapse.鈥�
D.C. Water is conducting daily water quality testing at 10 sampling sites through July 5.
It then plans to carry out weekly testing through Sept. 10.
D.C. Water has sought to keep the public informed about efforts to address the spill, posting .
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