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Why it matters:

The Washington region gets almost all its drinking water from a single source — the Potomac River. D.C. and Arlington rely on it entirely, making D.C. the only major U.S. metro area without a backup water supply.

A major incident — drought, chemical spill, natural disaster, or intentional attack — would threaten water access for 5.7 million people and critical government operations. The humanitarian and economic fallout would be severe.

The problem:

The region doesn’t control its own water source. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) operates the Washington Aqueduct, so any resilience effort hinges on federal action coordinated with state and local partners.

Our goal:

Secure federal funding to launch a feasibility study on secondary water source options for the National Capital Region.

What we did:

• Elevated and reframed the issue for federal policymakers, conducting strategic bipartisan engagement that positioned water redundancy as a critical national security and economic resilience need.

• Secured congressional authorization in Section 8201 of the 2022 WRDA, empowering USACE to initiate the region’s secondary water source feasibility study.

• Obtained $500,000 in FY24 appropriations, ensuring USACE could begin the work without delay.

• Negotiated a highly favorable 90/10 cost share, significantly reducing the financial obligation for state and local partners compared to the traditional 50/50 split.

• Delivered $1.8 million in earmarks as of November 2025 to fully fund and strengthen the study’s execution.

The bottom line:

Once the study is complete, Congress and USACE will need to act on its recommendations. Doing so will finally put the National Capital Region on a path toward a resilient, secure, and diversified water supply.