WASHINGTON, DC –DC Water is asking for input from the community to help name the newest member of its tunnel boring machine fleet.

According to tunneling tradition, a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) must be named and commissioned before it can go to work. In the U.S., TBMs are named after a woman, just as ships are in the nautical world. To date, DC Water has named two tunnel boring machines— “Lady Bird” for the Blue Plains Tunnel and “Nannie” for the Anacostia River Tunnel. Both names carry historical significance.

It is time to name the newest tunnel boring machine to arrive in Washington, DC. This one, with a 26’-diameter cutterhead, will mine the First Street Tunnel to help provide flood relief in the Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park neighborhoods. Working with residents, DC Water has narrowed the choices to three prominent women with ties to these communities and invites the public to help choose the name.

The three finalists are:

Anna J. Cooper (1858 – 1964)

• American author, educator, feminist, and influential African-American scholar, who was born into slavery and who lived in LeDroit Park
• Fourth African-American woman to earn a doctoral degree
• Faculty and principal of Dunbar High School in Washington, DC
• Championed education for African-Americans and women, and established and co-founded several organizations to promote black civil rights causes, including “colored” branches of the YMCA and YWCA
• Became president at Frelinghuysen University, a school founded to provide classes for DC residents lacking access to higher education

Lucy Diggs Slowe (1895-1937)

• First Dean of Women at Howard University in 1922. While serving as Dean, she secured the establishment of a “women’s campus” at Howard and influenced the appointment of women’s deans throughout the country. During her tenure at Howard, three new residence halls were built. A co-ed residence in the historic LeDroit Park is currently named in her honor.
• Founded Shaw Junior High School in 1919, the first junior high school in the District of Columbia school system. In the same year, she was also appointed principal of the school.
• Inducted into the 26th annual Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame during Women’s History Month, which is in March
• Founding member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
• Helped organize the National Council of Negro Women and founded the National Association of College Women
• In 1919, Slowe won the American Tennis Association’s first tournament, making her the first African-American woman to win a major sports title

Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954)

• Writer, educator, activist, and daughter of former slaves
• One of the first African-Americans to earn a college degree. Became an educator in DC and was later appointed to the Board of Education.
• Lived at 326 T Street NW, named a National Historic Landmark
• Formed the Colored Women’s League in Washington to address social problems facing black communities, and co-founded the National Association of Colored Women
• Signed the charter that established the NAACP and joined the burgeoning efforts to end legal segregation in Washington, DC
• Mamie Eisenhower paid tribute to her in a letter, “For more than 60 years, her gifts were dedicated to the betterment of humanity and she left a truly inspiring record.”

Washingtonians are encouraged to vote online at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TBMName
The naming contest ends on Wednesday, March 25. The name will be announced at the official naming ceremony on Tuesday, April 14, before the machine is lowered into the ground to begin mining the First Street Tunnel.

“We look forward to this, our third tunnel boring machine naming ceremony,” said DC Water CEO and GM George S. Hawkins. “This is a time to celebrate the technology and the people who bring these machines to life. It is a time to wish them success and safety in their important work for the District.”

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About DC Water

The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water), is an industry leading multi-jurisdictional regional utility that provides drinking water and wastewater collection and treatment for millions of visitors, residents and employees in the District of Columbia, and also collects and treats wastewater for a population of 1.6 million in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland and Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia.

DC Waters service area covers approximately 725 square miles and the enterprise operates the worlds largest advanced wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of 370 million gallons per day and a peak capacity of 1.076 billion gallons per day. Blue Plains is also a model in sustainability, with anaerobic digesters burning sludge for combined heat and electricity and plans for green infrastructure on an unprecedented scale to reduce combined sewer overflows.