Could McMillan’s subterranean filtration
cells again hold water? (Claire Bedat - ASLA)
But there was a novel
medium-term solution discussed that could help alleviate drainage issues that
led to
three major flooding incidents over 10 days
in July.
D.C. Water General Manager
George S. Hawkins said his agency is exploring whether the historic
McMillan Sand Filtration Site north of
Bloomingdale could be used as a place to store storm runoff during major storms,
easing the aging and overloaded sewers downhill.
Storing water at McMillan, which hasn’t filtered water since 1985, would be
unlikely to prevent all flooding, Hawkins said. But in combination with other
efforts, such as installing a “relief sewer” or transferring some flow to other
“trunk” sewers, he said, “we’ll be able to get a dent.”
D.C. Water spokesman
Alan Heymann said Wednesday that engineers are
exploring whether the subterranean sand filtration facility is structurally
sound enough for the job and whether it could hold the millions of gallons of
storm runoff necessary to provide meaningful relief to the downhill
neighborhoods.
The concept is that, during major storms, storm sewers upstream from
Bloomingdale would dump runoff into McMillan’s filtration cells, where it would
stay until the weather passes. Once downstream sewers were less taxed, the
runoff would then be pumped though to be processed at Blue Plains.
Without endorsing the McMillan idea specifically, City Administrator
Allen
Y. Lew said Tuesday he would work up a medium-term relief plan within 30
days, with an eye toward implementing it in about a year. Hawkins indicated
money shouldn’t be a problem: “I am confident that the financing element will
not be as much a challenge as some of the other elements will be,” he said.
The McMillan-as-stormwater-impound idea has won fans among some area
residents.
Russell Kinner, who testified at the hearing, suggested that
it would be using the site for “its original industrial purpose.” That is: “Keep
it more or less the way it is, and store water there during storms.”
But keeping it more or less the
way it is could mean tossing aside, or at least modifying or delaying,
grand redevelopment plans for the site.
If D.C. Water and city officials decide they need to use McMillan’s
underground filtration cells until the planned storage tunnel is complete in
2025, that stands to affect how redevelopment will proceed — perhaps it could be
done in phases, or perhaps it would have to wait until the tunnel is fully in
service.
Jose Sousa, a spokesman for the city economic development
office, said only that there have been “conversations” about using the McMillan
site for stormwater impoundment.
D.C. Council member
Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5), who has both been
intimately involved in the McMillan planning and has been crusading for
storm-ravaged residents, said it’s “a little too early to get residents’ hopes
up” about McMillan. But he said his first priority would be using the site for
flood relief: “Given the devastation that the residents have experienced, the
costs and the toll that been taken, then all options should be on the
table.”
But McDuffie said he hasn’t given up on development, either. “The question I
will have is, can we do both?” he said. “I haven’t heard that the two are
mutually exclusive at this point.”
