Cleaning Up the Potomac River Sewer Spill Could Take Months (1)

After a massive sewage spill in the Potomac River outside Washington, DC attracted the ire of President Donald Trump, federal officials are taking on a larger role in the disaster response — a job that could last months.

The spill began on Jan. 19, when a section of DC Water’s Potomac Interceptor sewer line in Maryland broke. That sent more than 200 million gallons of raw sewage rushing into the river over several days, an amount larger than the oil spilled in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.

While emergency repairs to the broken line could be completed by mid-March, there’s no timeline for ...