WASHINGTON, D.C. METROPOLITAN AREA — In January 2026, a 60-year-old sewer pipe known as the Potomac Interceptor collapsed near Clara Barton Parkway in Montgomery County, releasing an estimated 243 million gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac River over approximately three weeks. The spill added to existing contamination from a jet fuel leak at Joint Base Andrews that began in December 2025, further threatening a river that supplies drinking water to more than 5 million people in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

On December 11, 2025, a fuel system failure at Joint Base Andrews in Prince George’s County allowed thousands of gallons of jet fuel to enter Piscataway Creek, an 18.6-mile tributary that flows directly into the Potomac. Of the estimated 32,000 gallons that leaked, only 10,000 have been recovered; the remaining 22,000 gallons entered the environment. The leak continued for months before state regulators received their first notification on March 23, 2026.

Testing by the Maryland Department of the Environment found PFAS levels in a sunfish from Piscataway Creek at 1.4 million times the EPA’s standard for safe drinking water—the highest PFAS concentration ever recorded in any fish in any Maryland stream. The contamination stemmed from the military’s historical use of firefighting foam containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to extinguish jet fuel fires. Joint Base Andrews, a federal Superfund site since the 1980s, has been subject to cleanup efforts for decades. Dean Naujoks, an investigator with the Potomac Riverkeeper Network, said, “There’s a fish consumption advisory, but none of them know about it. It’s not like there are signs up.” He added, “A lot of these people are subsistence fishing. Poor Black, Latino, Korean, Asian families. And they’re just filling the buckets up every spring.” Naujoks also stated, “That’s what should be happening under the law,” referring to regulators taking enforcement action against Joint Base Andrews for its delayed reporting.

In April 2026, American Rivers named the Potomac River the most endangered river in the country, citing both the sewage spill and the rapid expansion of data centers. D.C. Water CEO David Gadis testified that another break in the Potomac Interceptor could affect the Washington Aqueduct’s intakes along the river. Repairs to three segments of the aging interceptor are now estimated to cost $425 million.