Poo-thetic: Networks Refuse to Cover Largest Sewage Spill in U.S. History

Curtis Houck
February 13th, 2026 8:15 PM

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Back on January 19, a D.C. Water sewer pipe burst ahead of a major winter storm, sending hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated sewage — collected from homes and businesses in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs — into the Potomac River and triggering not only a foul smell and unspeakable solids, but levels for bacteria such as e. coli soaring to 4,000 times above safe levels for recreational use.

As of this week, concerns remain and questions have arisen as to D.C. Water’s grasp of the situation and basic transparency. And with a major waterway in the greater Washington D.C. area serving as both a source of drinking water and the backdrop to major events celebrating America’s 250th birthday, one would think story would merit national attention.

Instead, the major broadcast networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC have refused to mention it on their flagship broadcast network morning or evening shows.

In contrast, NewsNation’s Katie Pavlich Tonight covered it twice, serving as the plunger to what would otherwise largely be a blocked-out system.

The first time was on January 28 and was set up by Pavlich teasing a segment on “something truly horrifying lurking in the Potomac River” that’s become “a crisis of epic proportions.”

Pavlich began her extended “Gloves Off” segment by catching viewers up on the fact that “hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage and wastewater surged into the Potomac north of Washington, D.C.” when it normally “safely transports as much as 40 million gallons...out of sight and out of smell.”

Making matters worse, she explained, was that the size of the burst pipe meant the leak “created a literal geyser that, at times, launched sewage feet into the air before running into what may now be more accurately referred to as the Pootomac River, the D.C. version of Old Faithful, basically.”

“It’s 66 Olympic-sized pools worth, which is so disgusting. Despite the incident happening amid sub-freezing temperatures — thank God for that — those tasked with responding to the poounami described the smell as horrific and said the concentration of raw sewage, even taking water samples, a public health risk,” she added

The real concern, she explained, is that matters will grow worse “when things thaw out in the spring” and that, if “a private company at fault, we know there would be investigations, fines, and probably more regulations as a result.”

Even more than that, if this had happened in a red state or red jurisdiction, it’s a safe bet there would be a torrent of coverage and attempt to make a wider commentary about the right and, oh, maybe racism.

Pavlich also spoke with Potomac Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks, who said he was “a little frustrated with D.C. Water’s response to this” and “led the public and a lot of elected officials to believe that the sewage spills was being contained in the CNO Canal and it finally is largely being contained, but there’s still sewage discharge in the river.”

“[T]he primary [drinking water] intakes are upstream above Great Falls, so that’s a good thing. But again, you know, we now have all the sewage that’s kind of trapped in ice and snow. Is there going to be a delayed down the road? I don’t think anybody knows. This is really an unprecedented 300 million gallons of sewage,” he added.

On Naujoks’s point about D.C. Water’s diversion, that certainly seems to have been the case hours earlier on NBC News NOW when they ran a piece from an NBC Washington reporter.

Also on January 28 was another embarrassing note for the network blackout as even far-left, soon-to-be cancelled Late Show host Stephen Colbert spent nearly two minutes joking about the geyser of number ones and twos.

The Fox News Channel covered it as well on the Sunday, February 1 edition of Fox & Friends Weekend with co-host Charlie Hurt discussing it in his weekend news round-up with The Federalist’s Brianna Lyman (click “expand”):

HURT: And then, there’s this. After federal taxpayers — that would be you — paid $2 billion to build a new sewer system in your nation’s capital, 300 million gallons of sewage went gushing into the Potomac River this week, one of the largest sewage spills in U.S. history. Cleanup efforts could reach $10 million. One local riverkeeper describes the sewage, saying “the vile and putrid smell from the torrent of sewage discharging to the — to the Potomac River for eight days straight is one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen in 25 years as a riverkeeper,” and of course all of “this can lead to dead zones...and harmful algal blooms,” and massive fish kills. Of course, it’s all still sort of a little bit frozen right now because it’s so cold there. It’s going to thaw. It’s going to be disgusting. This, ladies and gentlemen, is where your Environmental Protection Agency is located — In this city — and they’re dumping this into the Potomac River and in the Chesapeake Bay.

LYMAN: Yeah, and this riverkeeper literally said that had proper maintenance been done to the facilities that transport this —

HURT: Right.

LYMAN: — this wouldn’t have happened, and that seems to be like this key theme. You think of the bridge that came down, right? If proper maintenance had been done, you wouldn’t be seeing this. So the big question becomes what are you paying your taxes for —

HURT: Yeah.

LYMAN: — if not to protect your rivers.

HURT: Right? Exactly. And all of it, and you will be, the taxpayers will be on the hook for all of the cleanup.

LYMAN: Yes!

Fast-forward to this week and news that the spill became the largest in U.S. history. NBC News NOW again brought it up. This time, senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson had a brief on her eponymous show Wednesday that “a huge clog of non-disposable wipes is being blamed for the latest sewage spill in the Potomac River” that “knocked out a couple of the aboveground pumps being used to divert wastewater.”

Pavlich returned to the poo-nami on Thursday night: “What started as a poopgiser in the Potomac River at the end of last month is officially the largest spill of wastewater in U.S. history. We covered the ecological calamity days after the doo-doo disaster began.”

After a clip from her interview with Naujoks, Pavlich explained how damaging the spill was and will continue to be. She also put the volume of doo-doo in comparison to the Exxon Valdez spill, which the left has tried to flush away since they’re in charge at all levers of power in local and state governemnts (click “expand”):

Today, 300 million gallons have overflowed into the river. For comparison, Exxon — Exxon Valdez spill — oil spill into the ocean was 11 million gallons. But the officials tested the river downstream, they botched their math and dangerous pathogen levels were 100 times higher than initially reported. Even worse, DC Water officials say it could be another six weeks until the problem is actually fixed. This now historic disaster raises questions about accountability.

And where are the environmental alarmist? You know, the types glue themselves to highways and twerk in traffic to protest injustice against the Earth? This is a real catastrophe. And yet, they’ve been oddly silent. Is it to avoid making Democrats who run D.C. look bad? This record-setting spill is bad for the environment. It’s a threat to public health. It’s a rest to wildlife, fisheries, and tourism. And it will be a very stinky issue once things thaw out. And it may even be a party pooper for America 250. The Democrats who run D.C., Maryland, and Virginia need to fix it and fast.

Since Pavlich’s second segment, Friday brought about mentions on Newsmax’s American Agenda and then the Fox News Channel’s Special Report with Bret Baier.

Perhaps ABC, CBS, and NBC could have sacrificed a few seconds from their Bad Bunny celebration and done their doodie and not let others to scoop them.

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