Careless employee floods DC’s crime lab, soaking four floors and backing up critical wastewater system in Halloween spill

A critical wastewater system backed up and flooded four floors of DC’s $215 million forensic sciences laboratory in Southwest DC after a careless employee left a faucet running, The DC Line has learned.

The incident — which had not been disclosed to the public — occurred over Halloween weekend last year, when someone in one of the biohazards laboratories on the building’s fourth floor left the water gushing from one of the specialty sinks, city officials confirmed. The sinks are typically where employees wash up after autopsies, animal exams, and crime-scene evidence tests.

The runoff caused three 325-gallon tanks — which are specially designed to treat potentially hazardous wastewater — to back up through other sinks in the building, flooding the first, second, third and fourth floors, Department of General Services manager Jean-Francis Varre told The DC Line.

The flood either caused or exacerbated leaks in a critical wastewater pipe that is supposed to keep potentially toxic waste from emptying into the city’s sewers and ultimately into the Potomac River. The rabies and biohazard labs both flooded, Varre confirmed.

Opened in 2013, the multimillion-dollar lab at 401 E St. SW was supposed to signify a new maturity for the DC government, allowing its police and fire departments to rely on a city agency rather than federal officials for forensic testing, and getting the District caught up with the rest of the U.S. in protecting citizens from threats ranging from the Ebola virus to ricin. But the labs have been beset by difficulties, most notoriously in 2015 when the DNA program lost its accreditation due to sloppy management.

Authorities didn’t notify the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the floods and leaks until early April, more than five months after the incident — and finally replaced the leaking wastewater pipe only after another three weeks had passed. Meanwhile, the lab remained in use. Alan Tran, director of the Department of Forensic Sciences’ Public Health Laboratory Division, downplayed the urgency of the floods, saying he determined at the time that the water wasn’t dangerous.

All the chemicals that go down that drain are allowed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Tran said.

But Tran confirmed that he didn’t test any of the water flooding the labs, because federal rules don’t require it.

The affected wastewater system is critical to the functioning of the lab. Employees there are supposed to wash in special sinks after completing their work. The water runs down specialized pipes into one of the 325-gallon tanks that “cook” the wastewater at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for four hours before dumping it into the city’s sewer system. The lab is not allowed to function unless that system is working properly, Tran acknowledged.

Lab workers cleaning up the mess were ordered to wear hazmat suits. They cleaned the floors and cabinets with a 20 percent bleach solution, Varre said.

The flood was discovered about 3:30 a.m. Halloween morning, when a custodial supervisor came to work and saw puddles of brackish water gathering by her parking spot. She called her bosses, who found the open faucet on the fourth floor.

It’s unclear how much untreated wastewater went into the city’s sewer system. All three tanks of the system were full and had gone through at least one complete four-hour “cook” when authorities turned off the tap that had been flooding the lab, Varre said.

Cleanup crews had to pour diluted bleach down the drains to kill any bacteria or fungus growing in the pipes, and it was then that the system’s leak alarm alerted officials to the breaches on the fourth and fifth floors of the lab, Varre said. On Nov. 6, a week after the floods, officials determined that the leaks couldn’t be patched and a section of the pipe would have to be replaced.

Authorities waited to fix the pipe so they could put the job out for bid. Eventually Kirlin, the private company that had installed the wastewater system, won the job for about $27,000, according to city records.

In late April, Kirlin officials put on hazmat suits and secured the affected lab with special, zipped sheeting to replace the pipe over three days, Varre said.

Mayor Muriel Bowser has staked her credibility on the smooth running of the labs. Jenifer Smith — named by Bowser in July 2015 to head the Department of Forensic Sciences — said in an email statement that the Bowser administration “has worked diligently to establish the scientific integrity and strengthen the practices” of the labs.

While The DC Line was preparing this report, a hose broke on May 13 in one of the medical examiner’s labs. The resulting flood destroyed ceiling tiles on the floor below.

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Bill Myers lives and works in Washington. Email him at myers101@outlook.com. He tweets from @billcaphill.