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After a decrepit pipe burst in Maryland last month and sent hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage spewing into the Potomac River, a Virginia lawmaker is now urging the state鈥檚 health department to take concrete steps to address the environmental disaster鈥檚 potential health risks to residents.
鈥淭his one will trickle down over time, and I鈥檓 very worried about the contamination as it goes,鈥� Sen. Richard Stuart, R-King George, said in an interview Friday.
The DC Water system owns the pipe that broke in Montgomery County, Maryland on Jan. 19 and leaked over 243 million gallons of sewage into the waterway. The agency estimates it will take about six weeks for a temporary fix on the pipe 鈥� and nine months for a permanent solution.
Meanwhile, the Virginia Department of Health has issued a recreational advisory for 72.5 miles of the Virginia coast along the river, urging people to avoid touching the water and to be cautious when preparing seafood harvested from the river.
VDH has not issued any warnings for drinking water and Maryland has issued a shellfish closure only for the Port Tobacco River region down to the Harry W. Nice Bridge.
After one of his constituents asked VDH about potential contamination, Stuart said he was concerned to learn that the agency was not testing the water given the magnitude of the spill.
鈥淰DH will not conduct water sampling. The agency does not operate a freshwater bacterial monitoring program for recreational waters, and the Potomac River falls under Maryland鈥檚 jurisdiction for water quality oversight,鈥� VDH鈥檚 Feb. 14 letter read.
Stuart then sent his own to State Health Commissioner Dr. B. Cameron Webb.
鈥淰irginians who fish, crab, boat, and recreate on the Potomac deserve proactive protection and transparency, not a declaration that no testing will occur because another state holds primary authority,鈥� Stuart wrote to Webb on Wednesday. 鈥淔urthermore, there are miles of creeks and tributaries branching off the Potomac River that are unquestionably Virginia waters, directly impacting the health of our marine resources and shoreline communities that I represent.鈥�
By Friday, Stuart said, the state鈥檚 top environmental agency had taken preliminary steps to test state waters.
鈥淚 have since learned that (Department of Environmental Quality) is engaged, and they are doing sampling in various places. They were sampling on the edge,鈥� Stuart said Friday. 鈥淚 asked them if they would please go out into the channel and do various water columns to determine if it鈥檚 on the top.鈥�
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality said in a statement that on Tuesday, the agency collected 25 surface water samples across the recreational advisory area from above the sewer line break to Potomac Creek in Stafford County. The results of those samples are pending.
The agency also said VDH staff 鈥渃onducted a routine seawater sampling run for shellfish growing areas from Colonial Beach to the 301 (Harry Nice) Bridge, collecting 36 water samples in total. Based on their laboratory analyses, there were no elevated fecal coliform bacteria concentrations, with the vast majority of the samples at or below the detection limit for the test.鈥�
VDH replied to Stuart on Wednesday in a letter obtained by The Mercury.
鈥淲e will continue sharing information, including sample results, between VDH, DEQ, Alex Renew, DC Water, MDE and VDEM. VDH staff are also maintaining communication with seafood industry stakeholders and watermen to provide timely, accurate information,鈥� Lance Gregory, Director of VDH鈥檚 Office of Environmental Health Services, wrote.
Gregory also said that the agency, in partnership with the Marine Advisory Board, 鈥渄eveloped a mapping resource that illustrates the spill鈥檚 geographic scope relative to other productive waterways in the Commonwealth. This tool supports affected watermen in communicating clearly about the limited proximity of the incident to other harvesting areas and helps preserve confidence in Virginia seafood.鈥�
The state鈥檚 chief executive also weighed in on the disaster on Friday and said the state鈥檚 drinking water is safe.
鈥淚鈥檓 encouraged that EPA and FEMA have begun coordinating with DC Water to respond to the sewage spill in the Potomac,鈥� Gov. Abigail Spanberger said in a statement. 鈥淎mid the response, our state agencies are conducting water quality testing and monitoring the status of repairs. Our focus is on Virginians鈥� health and safety. Virginians should know that the spill is not impacting our drinking water.鈥�
Members of Virginia鈥檚 congressional delegation, along with Maryland officials, about their concerns over the health and environmental impacts of the spill. Still, Stuart is pushing for the state to do more.
鈥淢aryland owns the Potomac, but a lot of people in Virginia make their (livelihood) on it, and we eat a lot of the seafood that comes out of it. It鈥檚 a very productive river, despite how badly we treated it over the years,鈥� Stuart said.
Conservation group Potomac Riverkeepers Network agrees with the senator that this extreme of a situation calls for different approaches on how to handle it.
鈥淭he historic sewage spill and the ongoing risk of intermittent overflows demands a departure from the status quo,鈥� said David Flores, the Vice President of the Potomac Riverkeepers Network. 鈥淰irginians deserve more, not less, water quality monitoring and long-term assessments to protect their safety and the Commonwealth鈥檚 natural resources. This responsibility should not be deferred to another state.鈥�
