DC Water came to Tuesday night’s ANC 3F meeting to let us know they’re getting closer to revealing the latest plan to address Soapstone Valley’s 110-year-old sanitary sewer system. The environmental assessment is to be issued in the next month or so for public comments.
DC Water engineer Louis Arguello spoke about the project’s scope, and about the agency’s concerns about condition of the sanitary (human waste) sewers and two stormwater outlets in need of repair.
Map used in DC Water’s presentation at the April 23rd ANC 3F meeting.
DC Water has 6,200 linear feet of sanitary sewer pipe in Soapstone Valley between Connecticut Avenue and Broad Branch Road. These are clay or concrete pipes, 10 to 18 inches in diameter – mostly 18 inches. DC Water also has 29 sanitary sewer manholes and six stream crossings.
Erosion has exposed and threatens to undermine the sanitary sewage facilities. Risks include potential leaks of sewage from the pipes, and infiltration of groundwater and rainwater into the pipes.
Exposed manhole and sewer crossing in the Soapstone Valley.
The two stormwater outlets are just south of Albemarle Street near Connecticut, and at the Albemarle end of Linnean Avenue. The former, at the Soapstone Valley floor, is made of unreenforced concrete and has cracked. The latter includes a “regenerative storm water conveyance” system installed by the Department of Energy and Environment. This is a series of open-air ponds which slow down storm flow into the valley and let some soak into the hillside. (Read more about its 2015 installation.)
The Soapstone sewer systems belong to DC Water but they run through National Park Service (NPS) land as well as DC land. So it’s NPS that will issue the environmental assessment (EA) and post it at parkplanning.nps.gov. The EA will describe specific measures DC Water now proposes and will presumably address previous public comments received.
NPS will invite new public comments when it releases the EA later this spring, as well as host a community meeting. Chairman David Dickinson said ANC 3F would be willing to be a co-host. However, he asked that DC Water and NPS go over the EA with ANC 3F’s Soapstone and Melvin Hazen Parks & Trails Committee beforehand. The Parks & Trails Committee (chaired by Alex Sanders) is next scheduled to meet on May 10th (committee meetings are also open to the public). If NPS issues its EA before then, NPS and DC Water could come to that meeting as well.
David Bardin has closely followed the Soapstone Valley sewer project since it was revealed to the public in 2013. Here’s his writeup on the proposals as of 2015.
Marjorie Rachlin says
This is a technical problem. with environmental effects. I hope the ANC or David will give us guidance on what to comment on the plans and where to send it. I have just been through the comment periods on the Park Service plans for the Nature Center complex and I know these comment periods are not “consumer friendly.”
David Jonas Bardin says
Thanks, Majorie. You make good requests. Once we see this EA, ANC 3F and its Soapstone Valley / Melvin Hazen Parks & Trails Committee should be able to address them. Stay tuned!
David Jonas Bardin says
Correction: The next meeting of ANC3F’s Soapstone Valley / Melvin Hazen Parks & Trails Committee (chaired by Alex Sanders) will be on Monday May 13, 2019. The following meeting is scheduled for June 10.
David Jonas Bardin says
DC Water’s web site records a history of delays:
Draft NEPA document & Statement of Findings (SOF) Submitted to National Park Service (NPS), 2015
Revised Draft NEPA document submitted to NPS, August 2016
Revised Draft SOF submitted to NPS, June 2018
Revised Draft NEPA document will be submitted to NPS following SOF approval
SOF was approved, June 2018
DC Water reviewed Draft NEPA document, November 2018
DC Water provided Draft NEPA document to NPS for review and comment, November 2018
NPS provided review comments for the Draft NEPA document to DC Water, February 2019
DC Water updated the Draft NEPA document and resubmitted it to NPS, April 2019
Public comment on the NEPA Document Public Review: To be determined
Construction: To be determined
[DC Water, Sewer Rehabilitation Project — Soapstone Valley Park, Schedule, https://www.dcwater.com/projects/soapstone_sewer
David Jonas Bardin says
Led by its Chair, David Dickinson, ANC 3F discussed and approved a RESOLUTION REGARDING DC WATER REHABILITATION OF SEWERS IN SOAPSTONE VALLEY AND NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT (May 21, 2019, view here), which reviewed basic situation and history and asked for procedural information and actions.
Nine paragraphs of findings included:
WHEREAS, the District of Columbia (DC) owns sanitary sewers and manholes as well as storm water sewer outfalls in Soapstone Valley (SV) … within the boundaries of ANC 3F and has entrusted management, operation, and maintenance of these Assets to DC Water (DCW), a DC agency also known as the DC Water and Sewer Authority; and
WHEREAS, some of these Assets are on federal government land managed by the National Park Service (NPS) and others are on rights of way (ROWs) owned by DC and managed by the District Department of Transportation (DDOT); and
….
WHEREAS, DCW concluded, years ago, that all of these sanitary sewers and manholes (most of which are 110 years old), several stream crossings where erosion has exposed once-buried sanitary sewers, and two of the outfalls need to be rehabilitated, approving a Project to do so on both DDOT and NPS …; and
WHEREAS, the NPS determined that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) applies to DCW’s entire rehabilitation Project because part of it would be implemented on NPS land, …, and DCW has helped NPS prepare documents that NEPA requires including … a proposed Environmental Assessment (EA); and
….
WHEREAS, ANC 3F in 2013 and 2015 hosted community forums (and adopted resolutions) because of multiple concerns as to SV sewers and their rehabilitation and Soapstone Creek water quality and bank erosion; and
WHEREAS, ANC 3F — considering that its residents enjoy views of this forested valley some 40 feet below street grade, hike trails on both DDOT and NPS land, dispose of sanitary sewage through pipes and manholes in this valley, have storm water from their properties and neighborhood streets released into Soapstone Creek through outfalls in this valley, and could be injured by any leaks or ruptures of DCW Assets — established in 2015 (and annually renewed) a Standing Committee on Soapstone Valley, Parks & Trails … .
ANC 3F made 14 requests of NPS and/or DCW. My next Comment will list a few of them.
David Jonas Bardin says
ANC 3F’s RESOLUTION REGARDING DC WATER REHABILITATION OF SEWERS IN SOAPSTONE VALLEY AND NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT (May 21, 2019) made the following requests (among others) to NPS and/or DCW:
1. That NPS confirm it will schedule a 60-day public comment period once it issues its EA (posting the EA online and making some hard copies available).
2. That NPS confirm it will host a public meeting in the middle of that public comment period during which NPS and DCW will (a) discuss the EA, (b) take questions, and (c) answer such questions on the spot to the extent they can.
3. That NPS also schedule a second public meeting a couple of weeks later (which would facilitate follow-up interactive questions).
4. That NPS confirm it has forbidden DCW to meet with ANC 3F’s Standing Committee during the public comment period.
….
6. That both NPS and DCW confirm that they will consider and respond to any comments ANC 3F may submit during the public comment period.
7. That DCW also confirms that it will give “great weight” to ANC 3F comments.
8. That DCW meet with ANC 3F’s Standing Committee as soon as possible to discuss aspects of the SV Project that DCW would implement only after NPS issues a FONSI (assuming NPS will do that), such as procurement process and actual construction practices.
9. That DCW meet with ANC 3F’s Standing Committee as soon as possible to discuss generic technology and policy issues not limited to NPS land or SV (for example, What does DCW know about useful life of sewer linings? or What is DCW’s City-wide policy for lined sewers after end of linings’s lives?).
10. That DCW meet with ANC 3F’s Standing Committee as soon as possible to discuss aspects of its SV Project on DDOT land … .
11. That DCW meet with ANC 3F’s Standing Committee as soon as possible to discuss unavoidable impacts of its SV Project on trees and trails in SV.