D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 10-A, § 1308
1308.1 As noted earlier, a portion of the District’s sewer system includes combined wastewater and stormwater pipes. This area encompasses about 12,600 acres—or one-third of the District’s land area (see Figure 13.4). A majority of this area was developed before 1900.
1308.2 The Clean Rivers Project is DC Water’s ongoing program to reduce CSOs into the District’s waterways, specifically the Anacostia and Potomac rivers and Rock Creek. The project is a large-scale infrastructure and support program designed to capture and clean wastewater during rainfalls before it reaches these water bodies. The project also aims to stop the chronic sewer overflows that have plagued Washington, DC since the early 1900s. The project is comprised of a system of deep tunnels, sewers, and diversion facilities that capture CSOs and deliver them to DC Water’s Blue Plains advanced WTP, where the water is treated and cleaned before release to the District’s rivers. Figure 13.3 illustrates the system.
1308.3 Figure 13.3: DC Water’s Clean River Tunnel System
(Source: DC Water 2018)
1308.4 The Clean Rivers Project encourages installation of green infrastructure, including green roofs, permeable pavements, and bioretention areas, such as tree boxes and bioswales to assist with reduction of CSOs to the Anacostia and Potomac rivers and Rock Creek. The Anacostia and Potomac rivers' tunnel systems include more than 18 miles of tunnels that are larger than Metrorail's tunnels and located more than 100 feet below the ground. With the current sewer system, practically every time it rains, untreated sewage and rainwater (combined sewage) is discharged into Washington, DC's rivers and creeks. The Clean Rivers Project will install diversion facilities at strategic locations to capture this untreated sewage and divert it to the 157-million-gallon tunnel system where it will be stored and subsequently conveyed to the Blue Plains advanced WTP for treatment.
1308.5 The DC Clean Rivers Project is estimated to reduce CSOs annually by up to 96
percent throughout the system and by up to 98 percent for the Anacostia River. In addition, the project will reduce the chance of flooding in the areas it serves from approximately 50 percent to 7 percent (equivalent to a 15-year storm) in any given year and reduce nitrogen discharged to the Chesapeake Bay by approximately one million pounds per year.
1308.5a Text Box: Green Infrastructure and Local Employment
In addition to helping reduce CSOs, green infrastructure can also provide additional triple bottom-line (environmental, social, and economic) benefits to the District. An additional agreement between DC Water and District government will support local job creation through the implementation of green infrastructure. The agreement, signed in 2015, created the Infrastructure Academy, an ambitious local jobs program that includes training and certification opportunities for District residents interested in green infrastructure construction, inspection, and maintenance jobs. DC Water has established a goal to have 51 percent of new jobs created by this project filled by District residents. DC Water will also engage professional service firms and contractors based in Washington, DC to perform work associated with green infrastructure.
1308.6 The DC Clean Rivers Project will greatly reduce CSO discharge, but even with the project's full implementation, CSO discharge will still occasionally occur. Additional provisions to improve water quality will also be needed.
See the Environmental Protection Element for additional information on sewer overflow conditions, as well as the need to update the District's water quality standards.
1308.7 Figure 13.4: Combined Sewer System Area and Tunnel System 1308.7 (updated to reflect new data)
Source: DC Water, 2018)
1308.8
Reduce the number of CSO outfalls that drain into the region’s rivers and reduce the number of CSO events by completing implementation of DC Water’s Clean Rivers Project, which will reduce CSO outfall events by 98 percent to the Anacostia River and 96 percent system-wide when fully implemented. Encourage development of additional remediation efforts to address remaining CSO events to account for increased storm frequency and intensity from climate change and support fishable/swimmable water quality in the District’s streams and rivers.
1308.9
Rehabilitate and maintain pump stations to support the Clean Rivers Project and off-load stormwater in targeted combined sewer areas.
Pursue federal funding to cover an equitable share of the Clean Rivers Project as the federal government was the original designer and builder of the system, is a major user of the combined sewer system, and is a significant beneficiary of the effort.
SOURCE: District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984, effective April 10, 1984 (D.C. Law 5-76; 31 DCR 1049 (March 9, 1984)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984 Land Use Element Amendment Act of 1984, effective March 16, 1985 (D.C. Law 5-187; 32 DCR 873 (February 15, 1985)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1989, effective May 23, 1990 (D.C. Law 8-129; 37 DCR 55 (January 5, 1990)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1989 NCPC-Recommended Amendments, and Closing of Public Alleys in Square 669, S.O. 88-452, Act of 1990, effective May 23, 1990 (D.C. Law 8-132; 37 DCR 2213 (April 6, 1990)); as amended by District Government Land Use Temporary Amendment Act of 1994, effective October 1, 1994 (D.C. Law 10-190; 41 DCR 5360 (August 12, 1994)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1994, effective October 6, 1994 (D.C. Law 10-193; 41 DCR 5536 (August 19, 1994)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984 Land Use Amendment Act of 1994, effective March 21, 1995 (D.C. Law 10-235; 42 DCR 30 (January 6, 1995)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 1996, effective April 18, 1996 (D.C. Law 11-110; 43 DCR 530 (February 9, 1996)); as amended by Second Technical Amendments Act of 1996, effective April 9, 1997 (D.C. Law 11-255; 44 DCR 1271 (March 7, 1997)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 1998, effective April 27, 1999 (D.C. Law 12-275; 46 DCR 1441 (February 19, 1999)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 1999, effective April 12, 2000 (D.C. Law 13-91; 47 DCR 520 (January 28, 2000)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2006, effective March 8, 2007 (D.C. Law 16-300; 54 DCR 924 (February 2, 2007)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 2008, effective March 25, 2009 (D.C. Law 17-353; 56 DCR 1117 (February 6, 2009)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2010, effective April 8, 2011 (D.C. Law 18-361; 58 DCR 908 (February 4, 2011)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2021, effective August 21, 2021 (D.C. Law 24-20; 68 DCR 006918 (July 16, 2021)).