The site of a sewage leak that broke through the wall of the tunnel under Canal Road at Glover Archbold National Park is being checked daily and a bypass is being set up this weekend to aid investigation of what caused the problem.

“I am told our temporary patch is holding,” DC Water Chief of Office of Marketing and Communications John Lisle said Friday. “There are no apparent leaks currently.”

STINKY GRAFFITI: Lines show on March 24, 2019 along a crack patch in the tunnel under Canal Road at Glover Archbold National Park, where a sewage leak broke through in mid-March. Photo Credit: John A. Bray

Workers plan to inspect a bulkhead, possibly installed in the mid-1900s, that is on an abandoned pipe and might be compromised, according to Lisle.

The stench of sewage filled the tunnel early on the afternoon of March 15, as liquid poured from a crack in the wall on the structure’s northwest side. It apparently had been leaking for at least two days, at an estimated rate of 10 gallons an hour. Crews had the leak stopped and patched by mid-afternoon.

Pedestrians and bicyclists use the tunnel to cross between Canal Road and the Capital Crescent Trail, which runs along the C&O Canal and the Potomac River. A sewer renovation project recently was completed immediately south and west of the tunnel.

An average of about 2.6 million gallons a day of sewage and storm water flows through a Park main that passes beside the tunnel, according to a 2016 report from DC Water.