Friday’s storms created a mess along one of the D.C. area’s most popular biking and running paths — the second sewer spillage in a matter of weeks has closed the Capital Crescent Trail in Georgetown. As News4’s Mark Segraves reports, the cleanup could take several days.
The Capital Crescent Trail has closed once again after heavy rain caused thousands and thousands of gallons of raw sewage and rain water to spill onto the popular hiking and biking trail.
The Capital Crescent Trail is closed to the public between Water Street in Georgetown and Fletcher’s Cove. Officials with D.C. Water say it will be days before the trail is reopened.
Heavy rains Thursday night forced the failure of an underground mechanical device in D.C. Water's infrastructure that caused the overflow onto the trail.
The trail was closed two weeks ago after more than five million gallons of raw sewage and rain water spilled onto the trail. During that closure, visitors were also told to stay away from the C&O Canal.
So far, it does not appear the canal water was affected.
Engineers thought they found the problem after the first closure, but they now think there's another issue they didn't know about.
Crews will have to wait until the river water recedes before they can get to the bottom of what happened this time.
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Water levels are expected to peak Saturday afternoon.
Visitors can use the C&O Canal Tow Path as an alternate route, but officials warn that parts of the Tow Path that are further upstream may be closed because of flooding.
Drinking water is not affected by the closure.
Overflow spraying onto Capital Crescent Trail in Georgetown. Trail is closed. @DCWater on scene. pic.twitter.com/G1IhZBOG3K — Mark Segraves (@SegravesNBC4) May 16, 2014
