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47-886: The plant has a treatment capacity of 384 million gallons per day (mgd) or 1.45 billion liters per day, with a peak capacity (partial treatment during large storms) of over 1 billion gallons per day (3.8 billion liters/day). The plant occupies 153 acres (0.62 km) in the southwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. , and discharges to the Potomac River. It serves over 1.6 million customers in Washington, large portions of adjacent Prince George's County and Montgomery County in Maryland , and portions of Fairfax County and Loudoun County in Virginia . Wastewater treatment plants historically have contributed nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen to

94-406: A sewage treatment plant or disposal. Sanitary sewers are a type of gravity sewer and are part of an overall system called a "sewage system" or sewerage . Sanitary sewers serving industrial areas may also carry industrial wastewater . In municipalities served by sanitary sewers, separate storm drains may convey surface runoff directly to surface waters. An advantage of sanitary sewer systems

141-675: A grassy slope in Benjamin Banneker Park to connect L'Enfant Plaza to the Southwest Waterfront and to add lighting and trees to the area. The NCPC and the National Park Service intended the project to be an interim improvement that could be in place for ten years while the area awaits redevelopment. Hoffman-Madison Waterfront (the developer of "The Wharf") and the District of Columbia government agreed to invest $ 4 million in

188-505: A treatment plant. Force mains are typically constructed of welded steel or HDPE jointed to resist pressures within the pipe. Force mains are substantially different from pressure sewers which serve individual properties or groups of properties and provide a means of injecting sewage into a local gravity main. Effluent sewer systems, also called septic tank effluent drainage (STED) or solids-free sewer (SFS) systems, have septic tanks that collect sewage from residences and businesses, and

235-418: Is a pumped sewer that may be necessary where gravity sewers serve areas at lower elevations than the sewage treatment plant, or distant areas at similar elevations. A lift station is a sewer sump that lifts accumulated sewage to a higher elevation. They may also be used to prime an inverted siphon used to cross underneath rivers or other obstructions. The pump may discharge to another gravity sewer or directly to

282-607: Is complicated by making provisions to receive lateral flows without accepting undesirable infiltration from inadequately sealed junctions. Some sewers have tall vent pipes to release foul gases well up away from people. Common names for these pipes are stink pipe, stink pole, stench pipe and sewer ventilation pipe. Sanitary sewers evolved from combined sewers built where water was plentiful. Animal feces accumulated on city streets while animal-powered transport moved people and goods. Accumulations of animal feces encouraged dumping chamber pots into streets where night soil collection

329-505: Is now Lithuania was on 4 1 ⁄ 2 Street, and Marvin Gaye was born in a tenement on First Street.) Waterfront developed into a quite contradictory area: it had a thriving commercial district with grocery stores, shops, a movie theater, as well as a few large and elaborate houses (mostly owned by wealthy blacks). However, most of the neighborhood was a very poor shantytown of tenements, shacks, and even tents. These places, some of them in

376-453: Is one block outside the eastern boundary of the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood. Southwest is part of Pierre L'Enfant 's original city plans and includes some of the oldest buildings in the city, including the Wheat Row block of townhouses, built in 1793, and Fort McNair , which was established in 1791 as "the U.S. Arsenal at Greenleaf Point." Before 1847, much of the Virginia portion of

423-481: Is required to prevent inappropriate connection of cellar, yard, and roof drains to sanitary sewers. The probability of inappropriate connections is higher where combined sewers and sanitary sewers are found in close proximity, because construction personnel may not recognize the difference. Many older cities still use combined sewers while adjacent suburbs were built with separate sanitary sewers. For decades, when sanitary sewer pipes cracked or experienced other damage,

470-506: Is that they avoid combined sewer overflows . Sanitary sewers are typically much smaller in diameter than combined sewers which also transport urban runoff . Backups of raw sewage can occur if excessive stormwater inflow or groundwater infiltration occurs due to leaking joints, defective pipes etc. in aging infrastructure. Sewage treatment is less effective when sanitary waste is diluted with stormwater, and combined sewer overflows occur when runoff from heavy rainfall or snowmelt exceeds

517-628: Is the southwestern quadrant of Washington, D.C. , the capital of the United States , and is located south of the National Mall and west of South Capitol Street . It is the smallest quadrant of the city, and contains a small number of named neighborhoods and districts, including Bellevue , Southwest Federal Center , the Southwest Waterfront , Buzzard Point , and the military installation known as Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling . Southwest has

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564-767: The Potomac Interceptor in 1960. Construction of the main interceptor system took place in 1962. Subsequently there have been several pipe extension and maintenance projects. (Other areas in the northern Virginia suburbs are served by treatment plants operated by Arlington County , the City of Alexandria , Fairfax County, Prince William County and the Upper Occoquan Sewage Authority .) 38°49′13.5″N 77°1′6.7″W  /  38.820417°N 77.018528°W  / 38.820417; -77.018528 Southwest, Washington, D.C. Southwest ( SW or S.W. )

611-574: The Thomas Law House , and the St. Dominic's and Friendship churches. The Southeast/Southwest Freeway was constructed where F Street, SW, had once been. The rebuilt Southwest featured a large concentration of office and residential buildings in the brutalist style that was then popular. It was during this time that most of the Southwest Federal Center was built. The heart of the urban renewal of

658-484: The biological nitrogen removal (BNR) process was completed in 2000, Blue Plains has every year successfully achieved and exceeded that goal of a 40 percent reduction. In Fiscal Year 2009, the BNR process at Blue Plains reduced the nitrogen load by more than 58 percent. Installation of enhanced nutrient control systems was completed in 2014. The enhanced plant achieves nitrogen effluent levels at 4 mg/L. In 2010, DC Water received

705-472: The "Platinum Peak Performance Award" from the National Association of Clean Water Agencies . This award is presented to member agencies for exceptional compliance for their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit limits. DC Water began operating its thermal hydrolysis system, for improved treatment of sewage sludge , in 2015. This is the largest thermal hydrolysis facility in

752-570: The 1950s led to the construction of secondary treatment units in 1959, with an expanded discharge capacity of 240 mgd. In the 1970s a major expansion commenced that led to construction of advanced wastewater treatment components, and by 1983 the capacity was 300 mgd. The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) was established in Maryland in 1918 and operated sewer systems in portions of Montgomery and Prince George's Counties. The commission began to install sewer connections from its service area to

799-648: The Blue Plains plant in the late 1930s and 1940s. WSSC had built its own sewage treatment plant in Bladensburg, Maryland in the 1940s. In the early 1950s WSSC reached agreement with the District of Columbia government to connect the Bladensburg area to Blue Plains, and the Bladensburg plant was closed. As the Virginia suburbs expanded in the 1950s-1960s, additional sewage treatment capacity was needed for that area. Planners in

846-807: The Capitol Riverfront revitalization efforts, high rise office buildings and condominiums have been constructed. Developers have created a waterfront greenspace The Yards, and a waterfront bike trail is planned. Public Housing projects continue to occupy the area between the Waterfront metro and the Nationals Park stadium. On April 16, 2010, the new Waterfront Safeway (including a sushi bar). 38°52′52″N 77°00′58″W  /  38.881228°N 77.01622°W  / 38.881228; -77.01622 Along Water Street, " The Wharf " includes restaurants, shopping, theaters, public piers, hotels, and high-rise housing;

893-525: The District of Columbia, including the town of Alexandria , was included in Southwest. After the Civil War , the Southwest Waterfront became a neighborhood for the poorer classes of Washingtonians. The neighborhood was divided in half by Fourth Street SW, then known as 4 1 ⁄ 2 Street; Scotch, Irish, German, and eastern European immigrants lived west of 4 1 ⁄ 2 Street, while freed blacks lived to

940-801: The River Park Mutual Homes complex. Likewise, Harry Weese designed the new building for Arena Stage and Marcel Breuer the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, located at 451 Seventh Street, SW, to house the newly established U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development , and the Hubert H. Humphrey Federal Building. The Tiber Island complex, which was designed as a replica of the adjacent Carollsburg Condominium and Carrollsburg Square, were designed by Keyes, Lethbridge & Condon , and won an American Institute of Architects award in 1966. However, urban renewal did not fully succeed in Southwest for many of

987-589: The Southwest Waterfront was Waterside Mall, a small shopping center and office complex, which housed satellite offices for the United States Environmental Protection Agency . The Arena Stage was built a block west of the Mall, and a number of hotels and restaurants were built on the riverfront to attract tourists. Southeastern University , a very small college that had been chartered in 1937, also established itself as an important institution in

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1034-524: The Washington metropolitan area, led by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments , recommended that the areas around the new Dulles International Airport (which opened to the public in 1962) be served by the Blue Plains plant. This decision required the construction of a 43 miles (69 km) interceptor sewer from the Dulles area to Blue Plains. Congress authorized construction of

1081-602: The area. Following a proposal by Chloethiel Woodard Smith and Louis Justement, renewal in Southwest marked one of the last great efforts of the late Modernist movement. Architect I. M. Pei developed the initial urban renewal plan and was responsible for the design of multiple buildings, including those comprising L’Enfant Plaza and two clusters of apartment buildings located on the north side of M St. SW, initially called Town Center Plaza). Various firms oversaw individual projects and many of these represent significant architectural contributions. Modernist Charles M. Goodman designed

1128-427: The developed world, sewers are pipes from buildings to one or more levels of larger underground trunk mains, which transport the sewage to sewage treatment facilities. Vertical pipes, usually made of precast concrete , called manholes , connect the mains to the surface. Depending upon site application and use, these vertical pipes can be cylindrical , eccentric , or concentric . The manholes are used for access to

1175-410: The east. Each half was centered on religious establishments: St. Dominic's Catholic Church and Talmud Torah Congregation on the west, and Friendship Baptist Church on the east. (Also, each half of the neighborhood was the childhood home of a future American musical star — the first home of Al Jolson , whose father was the cantor of Talmud Torah Congregation, after his family emigrated from what

1222-498: The effluent that comes out of the tank is sent to either a centralized sewage treatment plant or a distributed treatment system for further treatment. Most of the solids are removed by the septic tanks, so the treatment plant can be much smaller than a typical plant. In addition, because of the vast reduction in solid waste, a pumping system, rather than a gravity system, can be used to move the wastewater. The pipes have small diameters, typically 1.5 to 4 inches (4 to 10 cm). Because

1269-621: The entire area, including well maintained properties, was upheld by the United States Supreme Court in Berman v. Parker . Justice William Douglas emphasized the squalor and segregation the area suffered, noting that the area was 98% black while 58% of dwellings had outside toilets. Only a few buildings were left intact, notably the Maine Avenue fish market, the Wheat Row townhouses,

1316-405: The expected service life of the repair. Another popular method for replacing aged or damaged lines is called pipe bursting , where a new pipe, typically PVC or ABS plastic, is drawn through the old pipe behind an "expander head" that breaks apart the old pipe as the new one is drawn through behind it. These methods are most suitable for trunk sewers, since repair of lines with lateral connections

1363-542: The first phase opened in October 2017 (see Redevelopment of Southwest Waterfront ) with phase two slated to deliver in early 2022. L'Enfant Plaza has also undergone a facelift, with new retail and hotels, as well as office renovations having been completed in the late 2010s. In April 2017, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) approved plans for a staircase and ramp that will travel through

1410-594: The following districts and neighborhoods: The Blue , Orange , and Silver lines of the Washington Metro have the following stations in the Southwest Federal Center: Smithsonian , L'Enfant Plaza , and Federal Center SW . The Green line has a stop in the Southwest Federal Center at L'Enfant Plaza and in the Southwest Waterfront at Waterfront ; additionally, the Navy Yard – Ballpark stop

1457-590: The hydraulic capacity of sewage treatment plants . To overcome these disadvantages, some cities built separate sanitary sewers to collect only municipal wastewater and exclude stormwater runoff, which is collected in separate storm drains. The decision to build a combined sewer system or two separate systems is mainly based on the need for sewage treatment and the cost of providing treatment during heavy rain events. Many cities with combined sewer systems built their systems prior to installing sewage treatment plants, and have not subsequently replaced those sewer systems. In

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1504-568: The investment cost for simplified sanitary sewers can be about half the cost of conventional sewers, the requirements for operation and maintenance are usually higher. Simplified sewers are most common in Brazil and other developing countries. In low-lying communities, wastewater is often conveyed by vacuum sewer . Pipelines range in size from pipes of 125 millimetres (4.9 in) in diameter up to 280 millimetres (11 in) in diameter. Vacuum sewer systems use differential atmospheric pressure to move

1551-431: The liquid to a central vacuum station. Sanitary sewer overflow can occur due to blocked or broken sewer lines, infiltration of excessive stormwater or malfunction of pumps. In these cases untreated sewage is discharged from a sanitary sewer into the environment prior to reaching sewage treatment facilities. To avoid such overflows, maintenance is required. Blockage prevention campaigns or regulations (e.g. requiring

1598-410: The only option was an expensive excavation, removal and replacement of the damaged pipe, typically requiring street repavement afterwards. In the mid-1950s a unit was invented where two units at each end with a special cement mixture in between was pulled from one manhole cover to the next, coating the pipe with the cement under high pressure, which then cured rapidly , sealing all cracks and breaks in

1645-445: The pipe. Today, a similar method using epoxy resin is used by some municipalities to re-line aging or damaged pipes, effectively creating a "pipe in a pipe". These methods may be unsuitable for locations where the full diameter of the original pipe is required to carry expected flows, and may be an unwise investment if greater wastewater flows may be anticipated from population growth, increased water use, or new service connections within

1692-601: The population to be served over the anticipated life of the sewer, per capita wastewater production, and flow peaking from timing of daily routines. Minimum sewer diameters are often specified to prevent blockage by solid materials flushed down toilets; gradients may be selected to maintain flow velocities generating sufficient turbulence to minimize solids deposition within the sewer. Commercial and industrial wastewater flows are also considered, but diversion of surface runoff to storm drains eliminates wet weather flow peaks of inefficient combined sewers. A force main or rising main

1739-460: The project in an effort to improve neighborhood connectivity in the area. Construction began on the project in September 2017. Notable past and present residents of Southwest Washington, D.C. include: Sanitary sewer#Conventional gravity sewers A sanitary sewer is an underground pipe or tunnel system for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings (but not stormwater ) to

1786-428: The reasons that plagued other Modernist renewal efforts. Areas of the neighborhood remained run-down, low-income, and somewhat dangerous. This situation intensified in the 1980s and the 1990s, when Washington had among the lowest per capita incomes and highest crime rates in the nation. The Southwest urban renewal has been called "a case study of everything urban renewal got wrong about cities and people." While many of

1833-631: The residential neighborhoods of Southwest remained both highly mixed-race and mixed-income, around 2003, the wave of new development occurring throughout D.C. reached Southwest including a number of apartment building renovations and condominium conversions. Nationals Park stadium, located on the east side of South Capitol Street and thus in Southeast, opened for the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team in 2008, construction having cost more than $ 611 million. As part of

1880-571: The sewer pipes for inspection and maintenance, and as a means to vent sewer gases. They also facilitate vertical and horizontal angles in otherwise straight pipelines. Pipes conveying sewage from an individual building to a common gravity sewer line are called laterals. Branch sewers typically run under streets receiving laterals from buildings along that street and discharge by gravity into trunk sewers at manholes. Larger cities may have sewers called interceptors , receiving flow from multiple trunk sewers. Design and sizing of sanitary sewers considers

1927-730: The shadow of the Capitol Building , were frequent subjects of photographs highlighting the stark contrast. In the 1950s, city planners working with the U.S. Congress decided that Southwest should undergo a significant urban renewal — in this case, meaning that the city would declare eminent domain over all land south of the National Mall and north of the Anacostia River (except Fort McNair); evict virtually all of its residents and businesses; destroy all streets, buildings, and landscapes; and start again from scratch. The seizure of

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1974-551: The use of grease interceptors by some customers) may also be necessary. The maintenance requirements vary with the type of sanitary sewer. In general, all sewers deteriorate with age, but infiltration and inflow are problems unique to sanitary sewers, since both combined sewers and storm drains are sized to carry these contributions. Holding infiltration to acceptable levels requires a higher standard of maintenance than necessary for structural integrity considerations of combined sewers. A comprehensive construction inspection program

2021-591: The waste stream is pressurized, they can be laid just below the ground surface along the land's contour. Where it is impossible or impractical to discharge sewage from a property into a gravity sanitary sewer, a pressure sewer may provide an alternative means of connection. A macerator pump in a pumping well close to the property ejects sewage through a small diameter high pressure pipe into the nearest gravity sewer. Simplified sanitary sewers consist of small-diameter pipes, typically around 100 millimetres (4 in), often laid at fairly flat gradients (1 in 200). Although

2068-502: The waterways in which they discharge. These nutrients deplete oxygen and cause algal blooms in rivers and coastal waters, a process that is detrimental to fish and other aquatic life . Since the mid-1980s, Blue Plains has reduced its phosphorus discharges to the limit of technology, primarily in support of water quality goals of the Potomac River, but also for the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay . The 1987 Chesapeake Bay Agreement

2115-445: The world as of 2016. The system generates high quality sludge that is used as soil amendments (200,000 tons per year). A portion of the sludge is processed in an anaerobic digestion system which generates 10 MW of electricity that is used elsewhere at the treatment plant. The original Blue Plains facility opened in 1937 as a primary treatment facility. It discharged under 100 mgd, serving a population of 650,000. Population increases in

2162-502: Was a first step in reducing nitrogen discharge to waterways that are tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. Under the agreement, the Bay states and the District of Columbia government committed to voluntarily reduce nitrogen loads by 40 percent from their 1985 levels. Blue Plains was the first plant in the region to achieve that goal. Furthermore, in every year since the full-scale implementation of

2209-409: Was impractical. Combined sewers were built to use surface runoff to flush waste off streets and move it underground to places distant from populated areas. Sewage treatment became necessary as population expanded, but increased volumes and pumping capacity required for treatment of diluted waste from combined sewers is more expensive than treating undiluted sewage. Communities that have urbanized in

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