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Regulators in Maryland and at the federal level ignored clear warning signs for years before two major spills turned the Potomac River into a conduit for raw sewage and jet fuel. The river provides drinking water to more than five million people in the Washington area, and the scale of the contamination now raises questions about basic oversight of aging infrastructure and military facilities.

In January a 60-year-old sewer line called the Potomac Interceptor collapsed near the Clara Barton Parkway in Montgomery County. An estimated 243 million gallons of untreated sewage poured into the river over roughly three weeks. The break occurred along the Maryland shoreline and sent waste directly into waters that flow toward intakes used by local utilities. Investigators had flagged problems with the line long before the failure, yet repairs were not prioritized.

Separately, a fuel system failure at Joint Base Andrews in Prince George's County began on December 11. Thousands of gallons of jet fuel entered the headwaters of Piscataway Creek, a tributary that feeds the Potomac. The leak ran for months before state officials received notification. The base, which houses Air Force operations, sits upstream from communities that draw their water from the same system.

Dean Naujoks, an investigator with the Potomac Riverkeeper Network, spent three years documenting what he described as repeated lapses by agencies responsible for monitoring both the sewer network and military fuel systems. His records show complaints about pipe conditions and fuel handling that received little follow-up. The river already carries stress from development and runoff, making these new releases more consequential for downstream users.

American Rivers has previously listed the Potomac among the nation's most endangered waterways. The recent events add pressure on treatment plants that must handle the extra load before water reaches taps in the capital region. Residents in suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia bear the direct risk, while costs for additional testing and treatment will likely fall on ratepayers rather than the agencies that missed earlier signals.

The collapse and the fuel leak occurred within weeks of each other, yet public alerts came slowly. Local utilities have urged conservation and increased monitoring, but the underlying question remains why routine inspections and maintenance on critical lines and base infrastructure were allowed to slip. The Potomac serves as the main water source for a dense population center, and repeated delays in addressing known defects point to deeper problems in how government entities manage essential systems.