DC Water spent $520 million on DEI contracts before massive Potomac River sewage spill

The revelations surrounding the DEI contracts come as a 2022 clip of Gadis has also circulated, showing him saying that there are too many white men in leadership roles at DC Water. The recent sewage spill has resulted in an estimated 300 million gallons of wastewater leaking into the Potomac.

Gadis has been a champion of DEI throughout his time at DC Water, which is now scrambling to fix the leak after a portion of the Potomac Interceptor collapsed on January 19. Under Gadis, DC Water has pursued "Fair Share Objectives" in order to drive participation from disadvantaged, minority, and women-owned business enterprises, according to the Daily Caller.

With these objectives, DC Water put together the "Business Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council" in order to give out business to "disadvantaged" and women-owned contractors for projects costing over $1 million. For fiscal year 2024, the disadvantaged and women-owned contractors were able to obtain 38.65 percent of all awards from the agency, which totals around $520 million of nearly $1.33 billion in contracts, a January 2025 board of directors meeting minutes stated.

Although he has pushed DEI and other diversity initiatives during his time as head of the agency, Gadis' tenure is now marked by overseeing one of the largest sewage spills in American history.

Recalling when he joined the agency in 2018, Gadis said, "This was an organization that looked very similar to our industry. It was predominantly, you know, white male at the top, but this was a utility that’s, you know, more than 70 percent people of color work at this utility. And I really believe, and I still believe, and it has been fantastic. The outcomes have been fantastic."

“But the people at the top, the executives, the chiefs in that C-suite, they should look like the employees that they serve and that they work with, and the same thing with the community. And so my executive team, you know, looks exactly like the community. It looks like it, looks like the employees, the staff, you know, be it people of color, women, men, and it is, it’s just a fantastic team that has come together to do a lot of great things here at DC Water and in the community for the customers," he added at the time.