The people living on Broad Creek in Prince George's County thought they had it made. Only about 15 miles from the District, they enjoyed fishing, kayaking and spectacular views of the Potomac River from their back yards.

But in the past six months, more than 12 million gallons of sewage have spilled into their beloved creek, almost as much as the past three years combined. Engineers blame heavy rains and power outages. The residents, though, point north to the county's largest development: National Harbor.

"Whatever's coming down the pipe from National Harbor is just exacerbating the situation," said Bill Windsor, 60, of Fort Washington. "I think that the capacity of the Broad Creek pumping station was already at its max or already exceeded before National Harbor ever came online."

A draft engineering report prepared for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission last year said the Broad Creek station had "more than sufficient" capacity to handle the 2.3 million gallons of sewage that could eventually flow every day from the new development just south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. But the report warned that the flows would "reduce the pumping station's capacity during extreme wet weather events."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also raised questions in March about the potential impact of National Harbor after reviewing a WSSC plan for preventing sewage spills. The federal agency rejected the plan this month.

Since the development opened in April, about 7.4 million gallons of sewage have gushed into Broad Creek. A 4.6 million-gallon overflow occurred after a power outage shut down the pumps in February.

Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/22/AR2008062201983.html