It’s not often one hears the word “poop” in the White House briefing room.
But it was uttered Wednesday by a reporter asking if President Trump was worried the Potomac River would still smell of excrement this summer when the nation’s capitol is packed for the country’s 250th birthday celebrations.
“He is worried about that,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed in her briefing. “That’s why the federal government wants to fix it and we hope that local authorities will cooperate with us.”
The issue at hand is a broken pipe that has dumped 243 million gallons of sewage into the Potomac River, causing a big stink that has spilled into a political battle between the president and Maryland’s Democratic Gov. Wes Moore.
Trump, on Monday, took to Truth Social to complain about the “massive Ecological Disaster” unfolding in the Washington area that he blamed on “Gross Mismanagement of Local Democrat Leaders, particularly, Governor Wes Moore, of Maryland.”
The untreated sewage began gushing into the Potomac on Jan. 19, when a section of a 72-inch-wide pipe, called the Potomac Interceptor, broke in Montgomery County, Maryland, which is about five miles upstream from Washington D.C.
The pipe usually carries up to 60 million gallons of waste a day. That material spilled into the Potomac, which flows through Washington D.C., for about a week before officials were available to divert it.
D.C. Water, the utility company responsible, expects it will be four to six weeks before the pipe is repaired.
It has caused an ecological disaster and a political stink.
Trump blamed local officials for the mishap.
“Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., who are responsible for the massive sewage spill in the Potomac River, must get to work, IMMEDIATELY,” he wrote on Truth Social Tuesday.
“If they can’t do the job, they have to call me and ask, politely, to get it fixed. The Federal Government is not at all involved with what has taken place, but we can fix it,” he continued.
Moore blasted back, saying it was the federal government’s job to maintain the pipeline.
He also pointed out that Maryland officials were “onsite within hours of the leak to help coordinate the response and protect the public.”
But EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said his agency was ready to step in if asked.
“At no point in the lead up to today had DC Water or the state of Maryland requested EPA to take over their responsibilities, and EPA has continued to offer its full support to state and local leaders from the onset. We are ALWAYS ready to lead and assist with our exceptional agency team!!,” he wrote on social media.
Meanwhile, E.coli bacteria levels in the Potomac were hundreds of times higher than the level the EPA considers safe when the water was tested this week.
Officials say the city’s drinking water was not affected but the Potomac River is a popular waterway for kayaking and boating. People are encouraged to stay away until the sewage is contained.
