News Release

National Park Service seeks comment on environmental assessment for rehabilitation of Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park seawalls  

Flooding at the Tidal Basin that will be corrected by the seawall rehab

NPS photo

News Release Date: March 6, 2023

Contact: Mike Litterst, 202-306-4166

WASHINGTON—The National Park Service (NPS) is inviting comments from the public on the proposed rehabilitation of the Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park seawalls. The public is invited to review the Environmental Assessment (EA) and share comments through April 5 at go.nps.gov/seawall.

In the years since their construction, the Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park seawalls have significantly settled and been compromised, leading to overtopping of the seawalls in some sections twice a day during normal tidal conditions and the water does not dissipate in a timely manner due to poor drainage.  

Under the preferred alternative proposed in the EA, the NPS would: 

• Rehabilitate approximately 6,800 linear feet of seawall along West Potomac Park and portions of the Tidal Basin to extend the seawall’s life by approximately 100 years.   
• Rebuild the seawall to include a pile-supported platform foundation that will prevent the seawall from settling and support height extensions of the wall if needed due to future rising sea levels or increasing storm surge elevations.    
• Increase the seawall height 4.75 feet within the Tidal Basin and 5.50 feet along West Potomac Park to account for wind and wave conditions along the Potomac River.   
• Salvage and reuse stones from the historic wall in the rehabilitated seawalls.
• Repair, or replace, and widen walkways around the Tidal Basin from eight to twelve feet wide to provide smoother, more accessible connections to other pathways. 

The planning and environmental compliance process for the proposed seawalls project is funded by the Great American Outdoors Act.

Get Involved 
Public participation is vital to the planning process. You are invited to review the proposal and provide comments and ideas from March 6 through April 5, 2023. To provide comments online or get additional information on the project, visit: go.nps.gov/seawall. If you prefer to mail your comments, make sure they are postmarked by April 5, 2023, to receive consideration.

Comments may be submitted in writing to:  
 

Superintendent Jeff Reinbold 
National Mall and Memorial Parks 
1100 Ohio Drive, SW 
Washington, DC 20024 
ATTN: Seawall Rehabilitation EA 

Please be aware that the entire comment submitted – including personal identifying information such as address, phone number, and email address – may be made publicly available.  Requests to withhold such personal identifying information from public release will be considered, but there is no guarantee that they will be withheld. 
 

-NPS-