Work trucks in front of the Audubon Terrace manhole being rehabilitated on Friday, May 19th. You can see the sewer bypass pipe snaking along the right side of the photo.
It’s been only a week since DC Water updated ANC 3F and the community about the timeline for the next phases of the Soapstone sewer project. And the schedule has changed already.
Last Friday, I was on Audubon Terrace, where DC Water’s Soapstone sewer contractor has pumping equipment for its sewer bypass system. At the east end of the street near the Soapstone trailhead, the pump was on, and I could hear sewage flowing through the bypass. I also saw workers at a manhole near the trail entrance. They were reinforcing it with cement, and one of the workers told me that the manhole needed work.
That manhole is not the only one. About half a dozen manholes need to be rehabilitated, according to Peter Tinubu of DC Water. Because of that, he said, the bypass system installed for the now-completed relining of the sewer line between Sites 4 and 6 is back in use and needs to remain there until the manhole rehab is done.
A sewer bypass pump.
The latest project update, sent to email subscribers late Monday evening, has the week of May 29th as the end date for the manhole work, and it adds two weeks to the projected start dates for the next phase of the relining project.
Once the manhole work is complete, the sewer bypass can be dismantled and then reassembled between Sites 1 and 3. Once the bypass is active, preliminary pipe inspections using closed circuit cameras can begin. Tinubu said the lining work itself likely won’t start until early July.
David Jonas Bardin says
Can DC Water be more specific than “about half a dozen manholes need to be rehabilitatated”?
What does DC Water know or suspect is the matter with those manholes?
Identical issues for all of them? Or a variety of issues?
Barbara Kraft says
Grateful to Marlene and neighbors for keeping us informed about this.
Marjorie Share says
I had understood that a certain number of manholes in and around Soapstone were always slated for rehabilitation along with the rehab of the pipes and stream. Has DC Water or their contractor discovered something new? If so, what and how?
I am concerned about the presence of STYRENE, a Hazardous Air Pollutant, reported by the University of Texas-Arlington, who has been contracted to carry out the air sampling, lab testing and monitoring for the Soapstone project. Reference this posting on DC Water’s website Soapstone Project Page: https://www.dcwater.com/projects/soapstone_sewer..
DC Water promised its regulator (DOEE), customers and Soapstone Community that it would use a non-styrene liner. It submitted a SDS (Safety Data Sheet) for a Cumene liner, approved by DOEE Why, then, does the reporting show higher concentrations of styrene than for cumene? It reveals undetectable amounts of cumene but spikes in styrene for two separate shots, March 14 and 16. Is the sampling correct? Has DC Water deviated from what they promised? Could equipment have been contaminated?
The reporting is scant and the timing of testing and reporting are mysterious. So many questions; e.g., Why is the reporting showing spikes when the testing was to take slow samples over a long period.? Why is there a long lapse between the date of the curing and the posted results? Why are there so few lab results?
If DC Water is using a styrene liner or something else is going on, additional curing work should be halted until we a clear understanding of the situation from DOEE and UT-Arlington. If something else is going on, we need to know what it is. While this project is complicated, the stakes–our immediate and long term health–are high. We need clear answers–now, and please.