Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

Try the next-generation Data Catalog at catalog-beta.data.gov and help shape it with your feedback.

  • Feedback
    • This is a Non-Federal dataset covered by different Terms of Use than Data.gov.

    Storm Sewer System

    Metadata Updated: February 18, 2026

    DC Water operates a wastewater collection system comprised of "separate" and "combined" sewers. Approximately two-thirds of the District is served by a separate sewer system, while the remaining one-third is served by combined sewers. A combined sewer system conveys both sanitary sewage and storm water in one piping system. The District's combined sewer system was developed before 1900. Separate systems are comprised of two independent piping systems: one system for "sanitary" sewage (i.e., sewage from homes and businesses) and one system for storm water. During normal, dry weather conditions: Sanitary wastes collected in the combined sewer system are diverted to Blue Plains at facilities called regulators or dams. Typically, there are no overflows to the District's rivers and creeks. During periods of rainfall, the capacity of a combined sewer may be exceeded. When this occurs, regulators are designed to let the excess flow, which is a mixture of stormwater and sanitary wastes, be discharged directly into the District's rivers and creeks. This excess flow is called combined sewer overflow or CSO. Release of this excess flow is necessary to prevent flooding in homes, basements, businesses, and streets. CSO's are discharged to the Anacostia River, Rock Creek, Potomac River, or tributary waters at CSO outfalls during most moderate rain events.

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. Non-Federal: This dataset is covered by different Terms of Use than Data.gov. License: Creative Commons Attribution

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Created Date April 30, 2024
    Metadata Updated Date February 18, 2026

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from DC data

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date April 30, 2024
    Metadata Updated Date February 18, 2026
    Publisher Department of Energy and Environment
    Maintainer
    Identifier https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=d17165adac694dce9cc2469cea415dac&sublayer=19
    Data First Published 2015-02-27T20:55:44.000Z
    Data Last Modified 2026-02-06T00:00:00.000Z
    Category geospatial
    Public Access Level public
    Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
    Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
    Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
    Harvest Object Id c2dabe73-a276-4d0f-8532-fc827a11b330
    Harvest Source Id b05f955a-65d6-4288-9558-15a5ebc74e36
    Harvest Source Title DC data
    Homepage URL https://opendata.dc.gov/datasets/DCGIS::storm-sewer-system
    License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial -77.0814,38.8568,-76.9712,38.9815
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash 1474e5612927d4bb6b1f9e178b600b0d71c1639c082c83afd899f3d8eecc0634
    Source Schema Version 1.1
    Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -77.0814, 38.8568, -77.0814, 38.9815, -76.9712, 38.9815, -76.9712, 38.8568, -77.0814, 38.8568}

    Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.