by Marlene Berlin The Soapstone Valley’s new temporary roads are being put through their paces already. Eventually, the roads will be used to haul in equipment for the sewer rehabilitation project, which will include relining the 110-year-old pipes. DC Water’s contractor started installing them a little more than a month ago, both to provide pathways […]
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In the Soapstone Valley, DC Water is building bridges
by Marlene Berlin The Soapstone Trail creek crossing closest to Broad Branch Road could be tough to navigate. This one looks easy. There is a new bridge – a substantial one – at this crossing. DC Water says it was completed on Monday, April 11th, and that a subcontractor is installing two additional bridges. One […]
Photos: (Temporary) roadwork in the Soapstone Valley
by Marlene Berlin DC Water calls them “heavy equipment pathways.” Really, they are roads, temporary ones, being built to move heavy equipment in and out of Soapstone Valley Park for the long-planned sewer pipe and stream reconstruction work. It’s been exactly a month since the park closed for this prep work phase. DC Water’s contractor […]
More on DC Water’s plans to cut, plant and protect Soapstone trees during and after the sewer and stream rehabilitation
Trees are coming down for the DC Water Soapstone sewer rehabilitation project now under way. And according to the agency’s March 27th project update, most of the trees marked for removal have been cut down since the park closed for the 1.5-year project on March 7th. At ANC 3F’s request, the agency released a fact […]
Photos: Soapstone sewer project work so far
by Marlene Berlin Soapstone Valley Park and trail are two weeks into a 1.5-year closure for DC Water’s sewer rehabilitation project. The work so far has included taking down some trees and constructing pathways for heavy trucks and equipment needed to reline the aging sewer pipes, and to bring in materials for stream restoration and […]
The other Soapstone Valley project involves stormwater control and stream restoration
At a meeting of ANC 3F’s Parks and Watersheds Committee this week, DC Water and contractors gave the most detailed overview to date of the stormwater control and stream restoration aspect of the Soapstone Valley sewer rehabilitation project now getting under way. As we reported in 2019, the Soapstone stream is badly eroded after decades […]
Soapstone Park now closed for 1.5-year sewer rehabilitation project
Sunday was your last chance to walk the stream crossings and trail in the Soapstone Valley for at least the next 1 1/2 years. The trail closed Monday for the construction phase of the Soapstone sewer rehabilitation project, and will remain closed through October 3rd, 2023, said DC Water in a project update email on […]
Soapstone sewer updates: DC Water promises air quality monitoring and VOC-free liners; ANC asks Council for stop work order
At a public meeting last Thursday, DC Water laid out its plans to proceed with the Soapstone Valley sewer rehabilitation project, over objections by ANC 3F commissioners and other members of the community concerned about the potential for air and water pollution from the sewer relining process called cured-in-place pipe, or CIPP. Two days before […]
Watch: Our conversation with an expert on cured-in-place pipe; “If you captured the waste, you would remove the public health issue”
On Monday, February 14th, Forest Hills Connection hosted a conversation on cured-in-place pipe, or CIPP, with the environmental engineer who has been studying the pipe relining method since 2013. You can watch the Q&A with Andrew Whelton here or on YouTube. We’ll write more on this soon, but here are a couple of quick takeaways: […]
DC Water’s Soapstone sewer rehab contractor has started tagging trees and conducting other on-site, pre-construction work
At the ANC 3F meeting in January, commissioners passed a resolution urging Mayor Bowser and the National Park Service to pause permits for the project, and requested that the various agencies involved bring in a third-party expert to review the environmental and human health impacts of DC Water’s chosen method of relining the 110-year-old sewer […]