WASA Investigates Impact of Power Loss
Officials of the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority are continuing their investigation to determine if any untreated sewage was discharged into the Potomac River early Friday morning following a three-hour loss of power to the Blue Plains wastewater treatment plant in Southwest Washington around 12:30 a.m.
WASAs wastewater collection system (sewers and pump stations)is designed to retain huge volumes of sewage if necessary when theres an operational or capacity issue at the plant.
Wastewater treatment operations at the plant resumed Friday morning, once the power, which is supplied by Pepco, was restored around 3:30 a.m.
The Blue Plains facility treats an average of 330 million gallons of wastewater each day from the District, Prince Georges and Montgomery counties in Maryland, and Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia.
