February 16 (UPI) — President Donald Trump said Monday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency will play a key role in cleaning up 200 million to 300 million gallons of sewage flowing into the Potomac River.
Four weeks after a sewer line collapsed in Montgomery County, Maryland, on January 19, Trump also criticized Gov. Wes Moore’s response to the leak, while local officials said it would take months to repair the pipe.
The Potomac River flows through Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
In an article published in Truth Social, Trump blamed the spill as “the result of gross mismanagement by local Democratic leaders, particularly Gov. Wes Moore,” and said he was directing federal authorities to immediately begin helping to clean up rivers and repair collapsed pipes.
Trump said he had directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide “all management, guidance and coordination needed to protect the Potomac River,” adding that the agency “is currently being defunded by Democrats and will play a key role in coordinating the response.”
President Donald Trump said Monday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency will step in to play a key role in cleaning up a sewage spill in the Potomac River. Photo by Will Oliver/United Press International
Congressional Democrats and some Republicans have delayed an appropriations bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, of which FEMA is part.
Lawmakers are demanding changes to the tactics Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Protection agents used last year to target people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally and those who stalked or protested the agencies’ actions, especially because of the deaths of two U.S. citizens during the surge in Minneapolis.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, pictured at the White House in February 2025, said Monday that state and local officials are ready to work with FEMA to clean up sewage spills in the Potomac River. File photo: Francis Chung/UPI
As a result, the Department of Homeland Security has been partially shut down until Congress returns to Washington, D.C., to negotiate a solution and fund the department.
Moore’s spokesperson told Axios that “the president’s facts are wrong again,” adding that “over the past four weeks, the Trump administration has failed to take action.”
Moore said in a statement that the Environmental Protection Agency declined to participate in Monday’s hearing on the spill and that Trump was using it as a political “talking point,” The Washington Post reported.
“If the federal government takes action now, we will work together as we always have to respond and let the public know the government’s plan to remediate the damage,” Moore said.
The spill began on Jan. 19 when part of Montgomery County’s Potomac Interceptor, which carries up to 60 million gallons of wastewater per day from Virginia and Maryland to a treatment plant in southwest Washington, D.C., collapsed, The Hill reported.
As of February 6, 200 million to 300 million gallons of raw sewage had been released into the Potomac River, and while a bypass has been built to stop sewage from flowing into the river, officials said it could take up to 10 months to permanently repair the pipeline.
