1 月 19 日，就在哥伦比亚特区边界以北的克拉拉·巴顿公园大道附近的监控摄像头首次发现管道破裂，据当地报道，在几天内，特区水务局的工作人员已将大部分泄漏污水分流至平行的切萨皮克与俄亥俄运河。
该管道将约翰·F·杜勒斯国际机场地区几个城镇的废水一路输送至华盛顿，在那里，废水将在华盛顿特区阿纳科斯蒂亚的蓝平原高级污水处理厂进行更远距离的下游处理。
“由于当地民主党领导人的严重管理不善，特别是马里兰州州长韦斯·摩尔，波托马克河正在发生大规模生态灾难，”特朗普周一晚间在 Truth Social 上发文称。
特朗普称可能向马里兰州派遣国民警卫队应对犯罪问题
“正是这位无法重建桥梁的州长。很明显，地方当局无法充分应对这场灾难，”特朗普提到了巴尔的摩环城公路上坍塌的弗朗西斯·斯科特·基大桥重建工作的时间线被大幅延长，以及据报道预计的数十亿美元成本超支问题。
这场灾难还影响了华盛顿特区乔治敦的另一座弗朗西斯·斯科特·基大桥，特朗普还提到泄漏点下游大肠杆菌数量激增。
“我指示联邦当局立即提供一切必要的管理、指导和协调，以保护波托马克河、首都地区的供水以及我们国家首都的珍贵国家资源，”特朗普周一在 Truth Social 上写道。“尽管州和地方当局未能请求所需的紧急帮助，但我不能允许无能的地方‘领导人’将华盛顿中心的河流变成灾区。”
摩尔的发言人艾马尔·穆萨回应时抨击特朗普“再次弄错事实”。
“自上世纪以来，联邦政府一直负责波托马克拦截器（即污水泄漏的源头）。在过去的四个星期里，特朗普政府未能采取行动，逃避责任并将民众健康置于危险之中，”穆萨表示。“值得注意的是，总统自己的环境保护署（EPA）明确拒绝参加上周五关于清理工作的重要立法听证会。”
“显然，特朗普政府还没意识到他们实际上应该在这里负起责任，”穆萨说。
桥梁坍塌援助成为特朗普与摩尔日益升级的争执中的经济武器
特朗普还提到了加利福尼亚州的帕利塞兹火灾，称民主党官员正在发动一场“ merit 战争”，且“后果严重”。
他还指出，联邦紧急事务管理局（FEMA）目前因政府部分停摆而受到影响，该部门隶属于国土安全部。
“FEMA 目前正被民主党削减资金，将在协调应对工作中发挥关键作用，”他表示，因为该局许多员工可能面临无薪状态。
马里兰州议员琳达·福利（D – 波托马克）的选区就在泄漏点上游，她在马里兰州安纳波利斯的听证会上表示，这场泄漏被描述为“美国东部最严重的生态灾难之一”。
穆萨则指出，马里兰州已经采取行动——比如在尼斯桥下游关闭贝类渔业——并告诉福克斯新闻数字版，安纳波利斯“在几小时内”派遣人员协助协调应对工作，并保护蒙哥马利县的饮用水安全。
“波托马克河不是一个政治议题，该地区的民众需要能够应对当前危机的严肃领导，”穆萨说。
摩尔的环境部确实发布了紧急禁令，禁止在泄漏点下游进行贝类捕捞，因为生态影响甚至在距离华盛顿近 60 英里的哈里·尼斯桥上（美国 301 号公路连接马里兰州贝尔阿尔顿和弗吉尼亚州达尔格伦）都已显现。
与大多数州界沿水道中心线划分的情况不同，马里兰州几乎控制了波托马克河的全部水域——除了哥伦比亚特区短暂覆盖“老战线州”历史边界的那部分。
马里兰州桥梁重建成本飙升至 52 亿美元，远超官员最初提供的预算
这种独特的边界划分也造成了一些奇特现象，例如靠近五角大楼的波托马克河“弗吉尼亚州一侧”的约翰逊夫人岛实际上属于哥伦比亚特区。
特区水务局首席执行官大卫·加迪斯在一封公开信中写道，波托马克河是“共同的财富”，任何威胁其健康的事件“自然会引起关切、沮丧和失落感”。
“我们的当务之急是控制泄漏、环境监测和稳定——与联邦、州和地方合作伙伴密切合作，评估水质、生态影响和必要的修复措施，”他写道。
查尔斯·克里茨是福克斯新闻数字版的记者。他于 2013 年加入福克斯新闻，担任作家和制作助理。查尔斯为福克斯新闻数字版报道媒体、政治和文化。他是宾夕法尼亚州本地人，毕业于天普大学，获得广播新闻学士学位。新闻线索可发送至 charles.creitz@fox.com。
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President Donald Trump ordered an all-of-government effort to protect the District of Columbia’s water supply and slammed Maryland Gov. Wes Moore as a sewage pipe interceptor rupture in Cabin John has released an estimated 240 million gallons into the Potomac River.
The break was first noticed on security cameras off the Clara Barton Parkway just north of the District line Jan. 19, and within several days, crews from DC Water were able to segregate much of the spill into the paralleling Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, according to local reports.
The pipe takes wastewater from several towns in the John F. Dulles International Airport area all the way to Washington, where it is processed farther downstream at the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant in Anacostia, D.C.
“There is a massive ecological disaster unfolding in the Potomac River as a result of the gross mismanagement of local Democrat leaders, particularly, Governor Wes Moore, of Maryland,” Trump said in a Truth Social post late Monday.
TRUMP SAYS HE COULD SEND THE NATIONAL GUARD TO MARYLAND TO ADDRESS CRIME
“This is the same Governor who cannot rebuild a bridge. It is clear local authorities cannot adequately handle this calamity,” Trump said, referring to the newly elongated timeline and reported projected multi-billion-dollar cost-projection overruns for the rebuilding of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge on the Baltimore Beltway.
The catastrophe affects the region’s other Francis Scott Key Bridge in Georgetown, D.C., as Trump alluded to the explosion in E.coli counts downriver from the spill.
“I am directing Federal Authorities to immediately provide all necessary Management, Direction, and Coordination to protect the Potomac, the Water Supply in the Capital Region, and our treasured National Resources in our Nation’s Capital City,” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social. “While State and Local Authorities have failed to request needed Emergency Help, I cannot allow incompetent Local ‘Leadership’ to turn the River in the Heart of Washington into a Disaster Zone.”
Moore spokesperson Ammar Moussa blasted Trump in response, saying he has his “facts wrong — again.”
“Since the last century, the federal government has been responsible for the Potomac Interceptor, which is the origin of the sewage leak. For the last four weeks, the Trump Administration has failed to act, shirking its responsibility and putting people’s health at risk,” Moussa said. “Notably, the president’s own EPA explicitly refused to participate in the major legislative hearing about the cleanup last Friday.”
“Apparently the Trump administration hadn’t gotten the memo that they’re actually supposed to be in charge here,” Moussa said.
BRIDGE COLLAPSE AID BECOMES ECONOMIC WEAPON IN ESCALATING TRUMP-MOORE FEUD
Trump also cited the Palisades fire in California, saying that Democratic officials have a “war on merit” with “real consequences.”
He also noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is currently subject to a partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security.
“FEMA, which is currently being defunded by the Democrats, will play a key role in coordinating the response,” he said, as many of those workers may go unpaid.
Maryland state Del. Linda Foley, D-Potomac, whose district is just upstream from the spill, said at an Annapolis, Maryland, hearing that it has been characterized to her as “one of the worst ecological disasters in the eastern part of the United States.”
Moussa said that Maryland, by contrast, has taken action — pointing to the shellfish fishery closure downstream to the Nice Bridge — and told Fox News Digital that Annapolis sent personnel “within hours” to help coordinate the response and protect drinking water in Montgomery County.
“The Potomac isn’t a talking point, and the people of the region deserve serious leadership that meets the moment.”
Moore’s Department of the Environment did issue an emergency closure for shellfish harvesting downstream of the spill, as ecological effects are being felt all the way at the Harry Nice Bridge where U.S. 301 crosses between Bel Alton, Maryland, and Dahlgren, Virginia, nearly 60 miles south of Washington.
Rather than most cases where a state line runs down the center of a waterway, Maryland controls nearly all the Potomac — save for the part where the District of Columbia briefly covers the Old Line State’s historical boundaries.
MARYLAND BRIDGE REBUILD COSTS SOAR TO $5.2B, MORE THAN DOUBLE ORIGINAL ESTIMATE OFFICIALS PROVIDED
The unique boundary also is why eccentricities like Lady Bird Johnson Island, on the “Virginia side” of the Potomac near the Pentagon, are actually in the District of Columbia.
David Gadis, CEO of DC Water, wrote in an open letter that the Potomac River is a “shared treasure” and that “any event that threatens its health understandably causes concern, frustration, and a sense of loss.”
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“Our immediate priorities have been containment, environmental monitoring, and stabilization – working closely with federal, state, and local partners to assess water quality, ecological impacts, and necessary remediation,” he wrote.
Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.
Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.
Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.