On Friday, January 16, 2015, DC Water Chief Executive Officer and General Manager George Hawkins will host Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser for a tour of the Anacostia River Tunnel project site near RFK Stadium. The site includes two 100ft. deep shafts and the massive tunnel boring machine, named “Nannie,” that will begin mining the 2? mile tunnel within weeks. The Anacostia River Tunnel is part of DC Water’s $2.6 billion Clean Rivers Project to significantly reduce combined sewer overflows in the District for improved water quality.

“We are excited for the opportunity to show the Vice President the tremendous investment being made in our infrastructure to help clean up our local waterways,” said Mr. Hawkins. “This project is also an excellent example of how innovative financing can be used to fund public works projects, something we are extremely proud of because it saved our ratepayers money.”

To date, DC Water has received $210.8 million in federal funding for the project. The rest of the project cost is paid for by local ratepayers. Earlier this year, DC Water became the first water/wastewater utility in the United States to issue century bonds with a 100-year final maturity, to better match the life expectancy of the tunnels and spread the cost to the generations of ratepayers who will benefit from them. The $350 million sale was also the first “green” bond issue in the U.S. debt capital markets certified by a third party, which introduced DC Water to a new pool of socially responsible investors.

DC Clean Rivers Project

As in many older cities, about one-third of the District has a combined sewer system. A combined sewer overflow (or CSO) occurs during heavy rain when the mixture of sewage and stormwater cannot fit in the sewer pipes and overflows to the nearest water body. This was the engineering design in the late 1800s and was preferable to the combined sewage backing up in homes and businesses and on the streets. Since the early 1900s, only sewer systems with separate pipes for sewage and stormwater have been installed in the District. CSOs contain bacteria and trash that can be harmful to waterways and the aquatic life they support.

DC Water’s plan to significantly reduce CSOs to the Anacostia River is to build massive underground tunnels that will store the combined sewage and runoff during intense rainstorms and then convey the flow to the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant for treatment. Similar CSO tunnels exist in Chicago, Indianapolis, Atlanta and many other cities. More than 700 cities nationwide have combined sewer systems.

Nannie

Tunnel boring machines (TBMs) are typically named for important women, much as boats are in the nautical world. This TBM was named “Nannie” for Nannie Helen Burroughs, a prominent 20th century African-American educator and civil rights activist. A resident of Washington, D.C., she founded the National Training School for Women and Girls to provide academic, religious and vocational classes for African American girls and young women.

“Nannie” joins “Lady Bird,” (DC Water’s first 26’-diameter tunnel boring machine) in tunneling segments that will join together for part of the 13.1 mile-long Anacostia River Tunnel to alleviate combined sewer overflows to the Anacostia River.