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Scott’s Run Nature Preserve will close to visitors for a third consecutive spring as Fairfax County undertakes an urgent sewer rehabilitation project intended to prevent wastewater from overflowing into the Potomac River.
The preserve at 7400 Georgetown Pike in McLean is scheduled to close Monday, Feb. 16. All trails and parking areas will remain off limits while a contractor for the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services completes the work.
The project is expected to take about three months, weather permitting. County officials hope to reopen the park before Memorial Day, when its peak season typically begins.
DPWES spokesperson Sharon North said the schedule will depend heavily on weather conditions, with crews aiming to finish and reopen the preserve as quickly as possible.
The work will rehabilitate a siphon facility that carries wastewater across the Potomac to D.C. Water’s Potomac Interceptor in Maryland. The Fairfax County Park Authority said the upgrades are essential to maintaining uninterrupted service and preventing a possible sewage overflow into the river.
Crews will install new lining in about 1,200 linear feet of pipeline using a cured-in-place pipe method. DPWES says that approach is faster and more cost-effective than alternatives while limiting disruption to residents and the environment.
Earlier emergency work uncovered the problem
Scott’s Run previously closed for roughly six weeks in spring 2024 while crews removed about 80 tons of sediment and repaired three wastewater siphons running through the preserve to the Potomac River.
Work paused during the park’s peak season and resumed in December 2024. Officials closed the preserve again on Feb. 17, 2025, after discovering a critical blockage. The emergency cleaning and repairs were ultimately completed in July 2025.
The latest rehabilitation is not a direct continuation of that project, according to DPWES. However, inspections conducted during the emergency work revealed that the siphon linings also needed to be renewed.
North said the county is acting proactively to reduce the risk of another emergency.
A second phase, now in design, will replace pipe lining beneath the Potomac River and extend into Maryland’s Carderock National Park. Construction is tentatively expected to begin in fall 2027, although the schedule could change as plans are refined.
Revenue from customer sewer service fees will fund the rehabilitation.
The work follows the rupture of a D.C. Water pipe in Montgomery County last month, which sent millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac. The break occurred downstream from Fairfax County’s drinking-water supply, but residents have been advised to avoid contact with contaminated river water.
A repair timeline for the broken D.C. pipeline remained unknown as of press time.