\n<\/p>\n
Donald Trump approved a federal emergency declaration Saturday related to a sewer main break north of Washington DC that threatens to put a stink on the US\u2019s 250th anniversary celebrations in the US capital this summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe president\u2019s action authorizes Fema to coordinate all disaster relief efforts to alleviate the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population and to provide appropriate assistance to save lives, to protect property, public health and safety, and to lessen the threat of catastrophe,\u201d a release from the Federal Emergency Management Agency said.<\/p>\n
Millions of gallons of raw, untreated sewage have been pouring into the Potomac River following a rupture in the 72in Potomac Interceptor pipe last month. The Washington Post said: \u201cRaw sewage flowed toward the capital city in what is now one of the largest sewage spills in US history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, local utility company DC Water estimated that 243m gallons of wastewater had leaked from the 54-mile (87km) line before a temporary bypass was set up.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s emergency declaration allows Fema to mobilize in support of cleanup and recovery efforts in Washington DC, and in surrounding areas of Maryland and Virginia. The sewage spill has prompted environmental concerns, recreational advisories and mounting questions on the maintenance of infrastructure.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Washington mayor Muriel Bowser declared a local public emergency. Bowser also wrote to Trump asking him to declare a major disaster for Washington. The spill has led to dangerous levels of E<\/em> coli<\/em> bacteria in the Potomac, and the DC department of energy and environment recommends avoiding contact with the river.<\/p>\n Trump has blamed local and state officials for the spill and directed federal authorities to \u201cprotect\u201d the Potomac, calling it an \u201cecological disaster\u201d. But officials have been feuding over which agency or utility is responsible.<\/p>\n Jay Apperson, spokesperson for the Maryland department of the environment, told The Hill in an email that \u201ceven though the portion of the pipe that broke is in Maryland, DC Water owns and operates the Potomac Interceptor, and it is regulated and overseen by the federal government, specifically the US EPA [Environmental Protection Agency]\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAlso, although the interceptor is in the State of Maryland, the break is more precisely within the C&O Canal National Historical Park, which is National Park Service property,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Trump wrote on his Truth Social network on Tuesday that Bowser, Maryland governor Wes Moore and Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger \u201cmust act, IMMEDIATELY\u201d and said the federal government \u201ccan fix\u201d the issue.<\/p>\n That came after Moore, a Democrat, blamed Trump for the spill.<\/p>\n \u201cThe President has his facts wrong \u2013 again. Since the last century, the federal government has been responsible for the Potomac Interceptor, which is the origin of the sewage leak. For the last four weeks, the Trump Administration has failed to act, shirking its responsibility and putting people\u2019s health at risk,\u201d said Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for the governor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Donald Trump approved a federal emergency declaration Saturday related to a sewer main break north of Washington DC that threatens to put a stink on the US\u2019s 250th anniversary celebrations in the US capital this summer. \u201cThe president\u2019s action authorizes Fema to coordinate all disaster relief efforts to alleviate the hardship and suffering caused by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[915,5006,1274,319,17366,3219,4794,8452,81,5118],"class_list":{"0":"post-44939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-approves","9":"tag-declaration","10":"tag-emergency","11":"tag-federal","12":"tag-potomac","13":"tag-river","14":"tag-sewage","15":"tag-spill","16":"tag-trump","17":"tag-washington"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}