Washington — A car-wide pipe collapse in January dumped large amounts of sewage into the Potomac River, prompting officials to track a spike in gut-causing bacteria that had been slowly drifting across Washington for weeks, creating chaos. Emergency declaration and federal assistance.
It was a disaster of historic scale, with 244 million gallons (924 million liters) spilled, highlighting the dire consequences of aging, failing infrastructure. But overflowing of small, little-noticed sewers is common. Tens of thousands of them occur each year across the United States, polluting rivers, flooding streets, and sometimes causing home backups that threaten human health.
“It’s really one of those problems that is out of sight, out of mind that never rises to the top until it becomes a crisis,” said Alice Volpetta, a water ranger for the Port of Baltimore with the nonprofit Blue Water Baltimore.
At least 18.7 million people are served by one of about 1,000 facilities that seriously violate pollution limits. At least 2.7 million people live with a system that has consistently violated federal clean water rules over the past three years, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data.
In Maryland, Baltimore, but not the nation’s nearby capital, has seen hundreds of sewer overflows in recent years due to broken pipes, tree roots or severe storms. Cities like Houston, Memphis, and Cahokia Heights, Illinois, has reached plea agreements To address their problems. In places where sewage and rainwater flow through the same pipes, heavy rains exacerbated by climate change could make overflows into waterways more frequent and severe.
President Donald Trump called State and local leaders are “incompetent” on the leak, but some experts say his administration’s funding cuts are adding to the national problem. Many facilities can’t afford the improvements — the EPA says hundreds of billions are needed over the next two decades.
“We will likely see more incidents like we saw with the Potomac sewage spill,” said Becky Hammer, a senior staff attorney at the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council.
A neighbor’s message alerted Teddy Bloomquist to a potential flooding problem. In the basement of his Baltimore home, cloudy brown water with bits of human waste came out of the shower drain. It was the third time sewage had been collected that winter, each potentially leaving behind harmful bacteria.
“We take buckets, and it turns out that every time someone flushes their toilet, it comes up,” Blomquist said. “It’s coming very quickly.”
Baltimore’s sewer system is more than a century old, and some parts of the tangled network of pipes have only been mapped in recent decades. Many of them have cracked and leaked from decades of decay, leading to rain and aggravating backups that flow through maintenance manhole covers, pour into the city’s rivers and flow into the basements.
“A leak that happens in a community, or in someone’s home, or right next to their home — it will be a memory for them forever,” said Sri Vedachalam, a water and climate expert at consulting firm Corvias Infrastructure Solutions.
Since the beginning of last year, nearly 15 million gallons (57 million liters) of wastewater have spilled into Baltimore. The map shows spill locations spread like measles throughout the city.
A neighbor was left with pieces of toilet paper frozen in the snow in his backyard and spent the day flushing sewage from his bathtub and toilet. Repairs cost thousands, including replacing his bathroom floor. Another neighbor said she used her wet vacuum to suck up nearly 120 gallons (454 liters) of sewage.
The city has spent nearly $2 billion over more than two decades under a consent decree with federal and local regulators. They installed new water pipes, closed outlets where sewage easily overflows, and stopped sewage bottlenecks from sometimes forming in the pipes that feed the treatment plant.
Baltimore’s efforts are working to reduce sewer overflows but take time and must be weighed against cost, according to the city’s Department of Public Works. They have made significant progress—sewer overflows are far less than the rainfall in 2018 when their volume was roughly equivalent to the Potomac spill–but the city has proposed extending the deadline for completing the necessary work to 2046.
Officials are offering up to $5,000 to residents who clean up sewage backups after certain storms, though activists say more is needed. The city said the program is subject to specific eligibility criteria.
Maryland’s progress is notable because it is among the states that have publicly reported flooding. About half of states don’t do so, according to an Associated Press review of state reporting practices. For the majority of states, the EPA recently extended the federal electronic reporting deadline, from 2025 to 2028, for reporting violations. The agency said extensions are needed to facilitate the transition.
Flood and water quality needs over the next two decades have ballooned to at least $630 billion. EPA estimates in 2024. Local residents will pay most of that amount. The federal government has a smaller role that has expanded in recent years, but may soon decline.
The Infrastructure Act of 2021 added billions of dollars to meet water needs, but this is the last year the money will go to states for loans for local projects. The Trump administration last year proposed deep cuts to that program and grants that help states fund environmental oversight, including water monitoring and protection. Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said Congress rejected those cuts, preserving access to funds for Baltimore and other communities.
But environmental justice efforts to help poor people, mostly from minority areas, were cut as part of the Trump administration’s attack on what it viewed as extreme “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs.
Some small grants were eliminated, such as $14 million to install septic systems in majority-black Alabama counties where residents live with sewage carried from their homes to their properties. Regional aid centers were also intended to help small communities plan complex projects and compete for a pool of new funds.
One such center has been established serving six Midwestern states Drinking water testing and mold cleaning Bonnie Keller, who led the center in East St. Louis, Illinois, said. This project was just one of dozens planned before the program was launched.
There are still major sources of financing. In November, the Environmental Protection Agency announced $6.5 billion for wastewater and drinking water projects through a loan program, with another $550 million to be delivered to states. The agency said the loan program to states has been running for nearly 40 years and has provided more than $180 billion for more than 50,000 low-cost loans. The agency provides some technical assistance as well.
“EPA helps invest in our nation’s water infrastructure by identifying needs, funding infrastructure projects through multiple programs, and providing technical assistance to connect communities and tribes to federal funding,” the agency said.
Bloomquist wants Baltimore to pay damages and prevent this from happening again. He had to miss several days of work after the January backup and had to replace his basement.
“It’s been epic, and now everyone’s on edge. You know, we’re sending out group texts, and people are like, ‘Oh no, it’s raining,'” Bloomquist said.
___
Wildman reported from Hartford, Connecticut. Associated Press writers Tammy Weber in Vinton, Michigan, and Gabriela On Anguera in San Diego contributed.
___
The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment.