The US Justice Department has filed a federal complaint against Washington DC and its water authority, DC Water, seeking financial penalties over the catastrophic collapse of a major sewer pipeline in January that released 244 million gallons (924 million litres) of raw sewage into the Potomac River. The 72-inch Potomac Interceptor pipeline, first installed in the 1960s, failed on 19 January north of the capital in Montgomery County, Maryland, with the complaint alleging DC Water had known about severe corrosion requiring immediate repair for at least eight years before the collapse. A separate lawsuit was also filed by Maryland's attorney general, and the case has drawn wider attention to the state of ageing water infrastructure across the United States.