Tag Archives: WASA

May 30, 2013 · 10:00 am

ANC Preview: Boring Edition

Next Monday the ANC will meet for its June meeting. The agenda is a long one, possibly reflecting the rush to get projects approved before the summer hits. Here are some of the highlights:

To Bore or Not

Way back in 2009, CAG held a meeting on the topic of the water authority, WASA, and its big plans for the future. To address the fact that our sewers overflow after big rainstorms, WASA began formulating plans to increase the system’s capacity. The biggest tool to address this would be the digging of a massive tunnel along the Potomac that would serve as a giant underground reservoir to receive sewer overflows.

This would, needless to say, be really expensive. And disruptive. The city is exploring whether alternative measures couldn’t address the issue without taking such a dramatic step like massive tunneling.

The ANC is scheduled to hear a WASA rep come and discuss its sewage overflow remediation efforts. GM suspects the issues above will be discussed. Continue reading →

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June 2, 2011 · 8:00 am

The Morning Metropolitan

Wedding in Montrose Park by Valkyrieh116.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

  • Gas line rupture during O and P Streets construction. Routine, apparently.
  • Speaking of construction, the Q St. construction, which was originally supposed to be done by last September, and then was supposed to be done by March, is still going with no end in sight (although they did recently lay the concrete pads for the bus stops). It will be so nice once they finally wrap up and repave the road; it’s murder on bikers.

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November 5, 2010 · 10:00 am

Q St. Construction to Last Until March

Photo by Pinelife.

WASA–now branded “DC Water”–has been conducting major construction on Q St. for about a year.  The construction entails separating the sewer systems into two systems: sanitary and storm. As it is now, all sewage, whether from a toilet or a storm grate, goes into the same pipe. When it rains a lot (like yesterday) that pipe gets backed up and the overflow (including all that stuff from the toilets) is drained into Rock Creek. The EPA sued WASA over this and WASA is under a court order to fix it by separating the pipes to make sure sanitary sewage never is dumped into Rock Creek.

When WASA was considering this project, they kicked around a couple ideas for how to conduct the massive project on Q St. They considered shutting the road down completely or just shutting it down to one lane. Finally they settled on allowing two lanes of traffic at all times. The last GM heard about this (which was a little before construction started) the project was supposed to run from about October 2009 until September 2010. Continue reading →

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September 2, 2009 · 10:00 am

ANC Roundup: Marathon Edition

As “prequeled” yesterday, GM attended a brutal marathon-like ANC meeting Monday night. After a long warm-down run and a good night’s sleep, GM is now ready to give an account of the race.

Along the way, we’ll pass sewage pipes, cupcakes, and yet another rejected curb cut. Make sure to carbo load and stretch and GM will see you at the starting line after the jump: Continue reading →

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August 14, 2009 · 8:00 am

The Morning Metropolitan

Good Friday morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

Photo of turtle in the C & O Canal by Flickr user Brownpau used under Creative Commons.

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August 3, 2009 · 10:00 am

After Cafritz Fire, Do You Feel Safe?

After Cafritz Fire, Do You Feel Safe?

Even before the embers of Peggy Cafritz’s home ceased smoldering, residents throughout the District began wondering whether the fire hydrant on their street has the pressure to put out a fire at their house. After the Georgetown Library fire two years ago, Georgetown residents are particularly worried about the matter.

It’s not the first time it’s come up since the library fire. WASA got a tounge lashing from the ANC last February. WASA came back in March to the ANC and in April to CAG to let us know that everything is OK. Nonetheless, when we see fire crews having to walk blocks away looking for water pressure, it’s not difficult to doubt their assurances.

According to the Post, the problems for the water pressure didn’t begin until the fire crews attached a third hose to the same water main. That would suggest that the hydrants worked as expected, but they simply aren’t expected to work that well. This adds to Georgetowners’ anxiety since they’ve been telling us how our hydrants (at least those marked correctly) work as expected.

How do you feel? Do you feel safe?

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April 13, 2009 · 10:24 pm

CAG Hosts WASApalooza

CAG Hosts WASApaloozaTonight the Citizens Association of Georgetown held its April meeting and the subject of the evening was WASA. WASA Engineering and Technical Services Director David McLaughlin gave the audience a detailed breakdown of all the big projects the agency is planning for the next decade or so, both citywide and in Georgetown-proper. GM knows this sounds like dreadfully boring information, but it’s actually quite fascinating how many huge projects there are in the works. Check out some of them after the jump:

Continue reading →

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February 2, 2009 · 11:10 pm

ANC Roundup: An Apple Falls in Line

Quick and efficient, yet thorough, ANC meeting tonight. We had farmers markets, beer, grocery stores, pistols, and fire hydrants. And that was just the first half. It all led up to the finale, when Apple showed up with the tail between their legs and proposed a more traditional design. How did the Commission respond? Find out after the jump.

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January 28, 2009 · 7:40 am

Georgetown “Moderately” at Risk from Lead

According to the Post, a report was issued accusing WASA of seriously dropping the ball during the lead-in-the-water scare five years ago. The Post writes:

D.C. Council members asked the city’s inspector general yesterday to investigate whether public health agencies and the water utility “negligently or intentionally” misled the public during the District’s water crisis in 2004 and whether they should have looked harder for a correlation between high levels of lead in the water and health risks to children.

Part of the report identified lead levels by zip code, see how 20007 performed:

Zip Map

So it looks like we had a “moderate” risk, but it’s not clear what that means (it’s a question of intonation). Also, either Georgetown University has nothing to worry about, or they could be worst of all! We just don’t know.

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