Poo Omission Over? NBC Breaks Dam on Potomac Sewage, ABC, CBS Still on the John

Curtis Houck
February 18th, 2026 3:03 PM

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On Tuesday night, we saw the first crack in the figurative dam of bias by omission on the literal mountains of poop flowing into the Potomac River — which is now the largest sewage spill in U.S. history — with a full story on NBC Nightly News and then a news brief on Wednesday’s Today for a combined two minutes and 11 seconds, marking the first time any of the broadcast networks have mentioned the poo on the Poot-tomac.

Though not included in the time count, Nightly News anchor Tom Llamas had a tease on the disaster, painting a brackish picture: “Potomac sewage disaster. Millions of gallons of waste spewing into the river. Now among the worst spills in U.S. history. How long will it take to clean up?”

Later, Llamas tossed to longtime D.C. bureau-based correspondent Tom Costello by saying that, in Washington, there’s “one of the largest environmental disasters ever in this country” unfolding with “hundreds of millions of gallons of waste spilled into the Potomac.”

Framing the Potomac as “[t]he river George Washington called the nation’s river,” Costello lamented it’s “off limits and contaminated after a 60-year-old sewage line in Maryland broke up last month, spewing more than 240,000 gallons of raw waste into the river,” which flows past major D.C. landmarks “and used by boaters, kayakers, high school and college rowing teams.”

Costello took a walk down along the scene of the (stench) crime with Potomac Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks, who pointed out that, despite D.C. Water’s clean-up efforts, “you can see the toilet paper, and the sewage up on the banks.”

Costello himself explained in a voice-over that the “environmental damage [is] staggering with e.coli levels more than 10,000 times above EPA quality standards at the time of the spill” and “health experts warn[ing] no one should be boating, fishing, or even touching the Potomac.”

After noting “massive boulders that collapsed into the six-foot-wide pipe are delaying the repairs,” he only acknowledged the political back-and-forth between President Trump and Maryland Democrat Governor Wes Moore.

But aside from that, his tone was rather matter of the fact (which it should be) (click “expand”):

COSTELLO: But massive boulders that collapsed into the six-foot-wide pipe are delaying the repairs. Meanwhile, President Trump has blamed Maryland’s Democratic Governor Wes Moore for gross mismanagement while Moore fired back saying the pipe was federally built and regulated and the Trump EPA has been slow to respond. The fear now? The Potomac may not be safe for months. [TO NAUJOKS] You used to swim here?

NAUJOKS: I swam right here.

COSTELLO [TO NAUJOKS]: Would you swim in here again?

NAUJOKS: Not for a while.

COSTELLO: D.C. Water expects the repair to be done by mid-March, but overhauling the entire line could take at least nine months

Fast-forward a few hours to Today and Hoda Kotb had a 28-second brief telling viewers about “a massive clean-up...underway in Washington, D.C. after hundreds of millions of gallons of waste spilled into the Potomac River.”

“It all started last month after a 60-year-old sewage line broke open in Maryland. The river left with e. coli levels more than 10,000 times above the EPA quality standards. Officials expect to have the immediate pair job done by mid-March, but overhauling the entire sewer line could take at least nine months,” she added

There’s no question as to whether ABC and CBS are aware of this story. On Wednesday, the 10:00 a.m. Eastern hour of ABC News Live discussed it and, over on CBS News 24/7, the Poo-tomac came up once each on Monday and Tuesday then five times on Wednesday (as of this blog’s publication).

Here was the segment in the noon Eastern hour from CBS White House reporter Olivia Rinaldi:

In another sign the networks are finally starting to get the picture a month later, there were two White House reporters who brought it up on Wednesday afternoon to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

First, there was CBS’s Jennifer Jacobs:

Fox’s Peter Doocy followed up, citing comments from Moore and then whether the President is worried that, as he’s been calling for “people from all over to come to the nation’s capital...the Potomac River will still smell like poop” come summertime:

To see the relevant NBC transcripts, click here (for February 17’s NBC Nightly News) and here (for NBC’s Today on February 18).

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