The five-year renewal of a Clean Water Act permit, which calls for DC Water to upgrade its facility to achieve a 45% reduction in plant wastewater discharges, is expected to improve water quality in the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.
The modifications on the plant serving the District of Columbia, Montgomery and Prince Georges counties in Maryland, and Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia with a capacity of 370 million gallons per day are expected to be complete by July 2014 to achieve pollution reductions in 2015.
In addition, under the Blue Plains permit, DC Water is also expected to maintain continued progress on its control of combined sewer overflows from the sewage collection system to reduce the diversion of pollutants to local streams when it rains.
EPA has taken this action as part of its coordinated effort across the Bay region with State permitting agencies to control discharges of nitrogen and phosphorus from more than 483 significant wastewater facilities.
EPA mid-Atlantic regional administrator Shawn Garvin said that these reductions are critical to protecting the health of the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River and that DC Water through its early actions to enhance treatment levels at this facility is clearly a leader in the Bay restoration.
