President Donald Trump on Saturday approved District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser’s request for an emergency disaster declaration, addressing what is considered the largest sewage spill in U.S. history. 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that Trump authorized the agency to supplement response efforts due to emergency conditions resulting from the major 54-mile sewer line that collapsed into the Potomac River on Jan. 19. Hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage were released into the waterway when the section of the Potomac Interceptor sewer line collapsed at a point off Cabin John, Maryland. 

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