Soapstone sewer update: July start projected for next relining phase; manholes are holding things up

by Marlene Berlin

It’s been only a week since DC Water updated ANC 3F and the community about the timeline for the next phases of the Soapstone sewer project. And the schedule has changed already.

Last Friday, I was on Audubon Terrace, where DC Water’s Soapstone sewer contractor has pumping equipment for its sewer bypass system. At the east end of the street near the Soapstone trailhead, the pump was on, and I could hear sewage flowing through the bypass. I also saw workers at a manhole near the trail entrance. They were reinforcing it with cement, and one of the workers told me that the manhole needed work.

That manhole is not the only one. About half a dozen manholes need to be rehabilitated, according to Peter Tinubu of DC Water. Because of that, he said, the bypass system installed for the now-completed relining of the sewer line between Sites 4 and 6 is back in use and needs to remain there until the manhole rehab is done.

The latest project update, sent to email subscribers late Monday evening, has the week of May 29th as the end date for the manhole work, and it adds two weeks to the projected start dates for the next phase of the relining project.

Once the manhole work is complete, the sewer bypass can be dismantled and then reassembled between Sites 1 and 3. Once the bypass is active, preliminary pipe inspections using closed circuit cameras can begin. Tinubu said the lining work itself likely won’t start until early July.