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The Potomac and Anacostia rivers have suffered years of raw sewage contamination due to combined sewer overflows. In order to address the issue, the city has begun constructing the first of two massive underground tunnels that will contain and transfer the contaminated runoff to the Blue Plains water treatment plant. The two tunnel boring machines, Lady Bird, named after Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson, First Lady and wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson and Nannie (26 feet tall , 350 feet long and 1,248 tons), named after Nannie Helen Burroughs who was an African-American educator and civil rights activist are hard at work digging the Anacostia River Tunnel. Lady Bird and Nannine are joined by Lucy, named after Lucy Diggs Slowe, the first Dean of Women at Howard University, which has begun digging the First Street Tunnel. The First Street Tunnel project will help control combined sewer overflows to the Anacostia river as well as mitigate flooding in the Northeast Boundary area, which includes the Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park neighborhoods.

Panelists discuss the planning and engineering challenges of the tunnel projects, which is the largest tunneling effort in the District since the Metrorail system was built, as well as city-wide efforts to install green infrastructure projects, such as rain gardens and green roofs. Panelists include: Carlton Ray, director, Clean Rivers Project, DC Water, Tommy Wells, director, District Department of the Environment and Benjamin Tauber, RLA, LEED Green, ASLA, senior associate, Lee and Associates, Inc.. Moderated by Susan Piedmont-Palladino, curator, National Building Museum.

1.5 LU HSW (AIA) / 1.5 CM (AICP) / 1.5 PDH (LA CES)

$12 Members; $12 Students; $20 Non-members. Pre-registration required. Walk-in registration based on availability.

Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. Registration is for event planning purposes only and does not guarantee a seat. Online registration for Museum programs closes at midnight the day before the scheduled program.

The Museum's award-winning Shop and Firehook Café are open for one hour prior to the start of the program. Shop and Café hours are subject to change.

Photo:The tunnel boring machine used to create the Anacostia River Tunnel, which will hold combined sewage and stormwater runoff. Photo courtesy of DC Water.