In the event of a drinking water crisis, Washington, D.C.’s reserve supply would only last one day, according to a new report.
The Potomac River is D.C.’s only source of drinking water, and while it seems like it would be an endless supply, a number of things could happen to compromise it, like impacts of climate change that could result in a drought or contamination of the river from an environmental incident like a bridge collapse or oil spill.
“Water feels fairly abundant as we look out on these rivers, but we actually are very vulnerable to disruption in our water supplies, and if that happens, it would have very far-reaching consequences to the residents of the District of Columbia as well as our neighbors in Virginia and in Maryland,” D.C. Council member and Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Board Chair Charles Allen.
The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin’s new report highlights risks if the Potomac River became compromised, including the financial cost to local businesses and residents if the water supply was disrupted for just one month.
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“The economic output is staggering,” said Dr. Keith Waters, assistant director of George Mason University’s Stephen S. Fuller Institute and Center for Regional Analysis. “For D.C. alone, after one month the economic output loss would be about $6 billion, and that's just the economic output loss. That's not including tax revenue.”
DC Water CEO and General Manager David Gadis said one way to better protect the District would be to increase reservoir capacity. One option could be adding another reservoir at the Travilah Quarry in Rockville, Maryland.
“What we're seeing in other parts of the country, especially the West Coast where there's a limited supply of water, is reuse,” Gadis said. “That's a big process. There’s education that has to occur, but we're actually reusing water today from other communities that are that are flowing down the Potomac so it's not something that's out of the question and it could get us there, you know, quicker than looking at a quarry that could be 30 to 50 years out.”
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The Anacostia River is not an option right now, Gadis said.
“But it is something that we are looking at,” he said. “As you know, we have improved the Anacostia from that forgotten river, from an F-rated river to now we're approaching it becoming a C-rated river, so that could be an option one day.”
Local leaders called on Congress to fund a study into the possible remedies as well as funding those improvements.
The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin points to Atlanta as a blueprint for expanding reserve capacity. In 2020, the city added a 2.5-billion-gallon water reservoir in an old rock quarry that can provide clean drinking water for up to 30 days in an emergency.
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