The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC WASA) recently discovered a leak in the two and a half mile-long Crosstown Water Tunnel located generally under the northwest section of N Street, Rock Creek Park and Rock Creek Parkway.

DC WASA will be visually inspecting the tunnel through the month of April. The Authority and its contractors will access the tunnel through shafts at three locations: Scott Circle, NW; 25th and N Streets, NW; and Foxhall Road and MacArthur Blvd, NW. Following the inspection, the tunnel may need future construction activity to repair any problems found.

“Fortunately, the water distribution system is both redundant and robust,” said Leonard Benson, Acting Chief Engineer at DC WASA. “Though the Crosstown Water Tunnel is a large, 7-foot diameter water tunnel, we can re-route water through other mains to accommodate this work. We do not foresee any disruption to water service in the area.”

Benson added, “We first performed an inspection with a remote-operated vehicle that captured footage of the inside of the tunnel. Based on that information, we are now manually inspecting the tunnel. We expect to identify the cause of the leak and plan repair activity for the near future.”

Traffic will be affected as N Street, NW will remain closed between Corregidor and 15th Street. Residents may notice trucks, fencing, pipes and activity as the work is performed. The work areas are enclosed for safety, and security is in place when crews are not present. The work hours are from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday to Friday. DDOT and DC WASA will restore streets and sidewalks after completion of the project. The project is scheduled for completion in May.

For more information, please contact: Duncan Mukira at duncan.mukira@dcwasa.com or 202 787-2315.

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About The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority
The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC WASA), is an industry leading multi-jurisdictional regional utility that provides drinking water, wastewater collection and treatment to more than 500,000 residential, commercial and governmental customers in the District of Columbia, and also collects and treats wastewater for 1.6 million customers in Montgomery and Prince Georges counties in Maryland and Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia. DC WASA’s service area covers approximately 725 square miles and the company operates the world’s largest advanced wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of 370 million gallons per day and has a peak capacity of 1.076 billion gallons per day.