What is the proposed project? What is its purpose?
The Washington Aqueduct draws raw water from the Potomac River to make safe drinking water for over one million residents in the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Like all or nearly all drinking water processes involving river water, the sediments in the raw water must be extracted from the water to make it drinkable. This sediment byproduct must then go somewhere. The proposed project is to alter the disposal process for the sediments from the current one of disposal back to the Potomac River to a process of collection and land disposal or reuse. The purpose for doing this is to comply with the terms of a recently issued National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit under the Clean Water Act that effectively prevents discharge of the sediments to the Potomac River.
