The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission held an open meeting on the Rock Creek Basin sewer rehabilitation on Wednesday night.

The meeting outlined WSSC’s plan for maintenance required by the Environmental Protection Authority of over 25 miles of pipelines that range from six to 48 inches in diameter.

WSSC plans to rehabilitate 432 manholes in the area, which need to be raised to prevent flooding, or grouted, recoated or replaced.

Although WSSC has identified priority sewage problems that will be fixed first over the next five years, construction is not estimated to begin for another year. The whole project is planned to be finished in ten years.

According to Ed Carpenetti, WSSC’s principal civic engineer, one of the project’s priorities is to have as little an impact on the environment as possible.

The government organization is planning on doing minimal digging, but the procedure and amount of work will not be known until each asset is evaluated.

The main intrusion will be in gaining access to the assets in the basin that are in wooded areas.

Eugene Rose, environmental monitor for the project, said that access roads would be built to service hard-to-reach areas.   

Ideally, the roads would be 12 feet wide and filled with mulch to prevent soil compaction. WSSC will create longer access roads to avoid important environmental areas like wetlands.

Others at the meeting were worried about exposed sewage lines, which WSSC did not specifically address.

“My interests are in clean water,” said Steve Morrison, a 42-year resident and representative of the Layhill Village Civic Association.

“I would want them to redo everything at no cost,” he said.

The cost will not be known until each asset is assessed.