PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 19, 2015

Contact:

Pamela Mooring
Office of External Affairs
(202) 787-2089 (office)
(202) 538-2773 (cell)
Pamela.Mooring@dcwater.com

DC Water Seeks Input for Naming Tunnel Boring Machine

WASHINGTON, DC DC Water is asking for input from the community to help name the newest
member of its tunnel boring machine fleet.

According to tunneling tradition, a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) must be named and
commissioned before it can go to work. In the U.S., TBMs are named after a woman, just as
ships are in the nautical world. To date, DC Water has named two tunnel boring machines
Lady Bird for the Blue Plains Tunnel and Nannie for the Anacostia River Tunnel. Both
names carry historical significance.
It is time to name the newest tunnel boring machine to arrive in Washington, DC. This one, with
a 26-diameter cutterhead, will mine the First Street Tunnel to help provide flood relief in the
Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park neighborhoods. Working with residents, DC Water has narrowed
the choices to three prominent women with ties to these communities and invites the public to
help choose the name.
The three finalists are:
Anna J. Cooper (1858 1964)

American author, educator, feminist, and influential African-American scholar, who was
born into slavery and who lived in LeDroit Park
Fourth African-American woman to earn a doctoral degree
Faculty and principal of Dunbar High School in Washington, DC
Championed education for African-Americans and women, and established and cofounded several organizations to promote black civil rights causes, including colored
branches of the YMCA and YWCA
Became president at Frelinghuysen University, a school founded to provide classes for
DC residents lacking access to higher education

Lucy Diggs Slowe (1995-1937)

First Dean of Women at Howard University in 1922

o While serving as Dean, she secured the establishment of a womens campus at
Howard and influenced the appointment of womens deans throughout the
country.
o During her tenure at Howard, three new residence halls were built. A co-ed
residence in the historic LeDroit Park is currently named in her honor.
Founded Shaw Junior High School in 1919, the first junior high school in the District of
Columbia school system. In the same year, she was also appointed principal of the
school.
Inducted into the 26th annual Maryland Womens Hall of Fame during Womens History
Month, which is in March
Founding member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Helped organize the National Council of Negro Women and founded the National
Association of College Women
In 1919, Slowe won the American Tennis Associations first tournament, making her the
first African-American woman to win a major sports title

Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954)

Writer, educator, activist, and daughter of former slaves

One of the first African-Americans to earn a college degree. Became an educator in DC
and was later appointed to the Board of Education.
Lived at 326 T Street NW, named a National Historic Landmark
Formed the Colored Womens League in Washington to address social problems facing
black communities, and co-founded the National Association of Colored Women
Signed the charter that established the NAACP and joined the burgeoning efforts to end
legal segregation in Washington, DC
Mamie Eisenhower paid tribute to her in a letter, For more than 60 years, her gifts were
dedicated to the betterment of humanity and she left a truly inspiring record.

We look forward to this, our third tunnel boring machine naming ceremony, said DC Water
CEO and GM George S. Hawkins. This is a time to celebrate the technology and the people
who bring these machines to life. It is a time to wish them success and safety in their important
work for the District.
Washingtonians are encouraged to vote here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TBMName
The naming contest ends on Wednesday, March 25. The name will be announced at the official
naming ceremony on Tuesday, April 14, before the machine is lowered into the ground to begin
mining the First Street Tunnel.
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About DC Water
The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water), is an industry leading multijurisdictional regional utility that provides drinking water and wastewater collection and treatment
for millions of visitors, residents and employees in the District of Columbia, and also collects and
treats wastewater for a population of 1.6 million in Montgomery and Prince Georges counties in

Maryland and Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia.

DC Water's service area covers approximately 725 square miles and the enterprise operates the
world's largest advanced wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of 370 million gallons per day
and a peak capacity of 1.076 billion gallons per day. Blue Plains is also a model in sustainability,
with anaerobic digesters burning sludge for combined heat and electricity and plans for green
infrastructure on an unprecedented scale to reduce combined sewer overflows.