By now, you’ve likely seen the DC Water advisories on area listservs (and our stories Sunday and Monday on Forest Hills Connection) about the sewer leak in Soapstone Valley. DC Water is still advising people and their pets away from the creek water to avoid risking exposure to raw sewage.
The good news, as far as Soapstone’s trail and trees are concerned, is that the leak is easily accessible. The equipment and work needed to repair the pipe will have minimal impact on the trail and will require no removal of trees.
DC Water installed a bypass around the leak yesterday morning.
The next step will be to line the leaking pipe.
According to William Elledge, manager of design in the Department of Engineering and Technical Services at DC Water, the leak is on a sewer line slated for a substantial rehabilitation due to the age of the pipes running through the Soapstone Valley. The project was first revealed to the community in 2013. DC Water will be holding another community meeting on the project on Tuesday, July 28th, time and place yet to be determined.
Due to this leak, Elledge said DC Water will be asking the National Park Service for an expedited permit process to start the larger project sooner rather than later.
“We have no evidence of any other leaks,” he wrote in an email, “but we don’t want any more to start.”
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David Jonas Bardin says
DC Water stopped the leak on Tuesday, July 14, as the story illustrates. When I visited this morning DCW was installing a back-up, parallel bypass hose and back-up pump which can be activated if anything goes wrong with the first pump. The bypass runs about 350 feet downstream from the last (easternmost) manhole in Audubon Terrace to the illustrated manhole, where sewage returns to sewer line. DCW has properly put its priority on stopping any leak of sewage. It will try to minimize odors at the two manholes. Later, it will run a TV c
David Jonas Bardin says
Oops:
Later DC Water will run a TV camera inspection of the 15-inch main between these two manholes. That will help fix exact location and circumstances of the leak to help plan and implement lasting repair. In the meantime, emergency action has ended pollution of the Creek.
David Jonas Bardin says
DC Water corrects me: The leak is believed to be in an 18-inch diameter pipe, somewhere between manholes M-10412 (upstream) and M-10409 (downstream). The bypass runs between those two manholes. There is one other manhole between them.