The U.S. recently proposed changes to the Environmental Protection Agency’s consent decree with The Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) in an effort to reduce sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) in southeast Virginia.
The modifications are being made to a consent decree created between the parties in 2010. They require the implementation of a comprehensive set of improvements to the sewer system in order to resolve a longstanding problem with SSOs in the area, according to an EPA release.
“Today’s modification requires Hampton Roads Sanitation District to address the decades long problem of sanitary sewer overflows,” said Acting Assistant Administrator Larry Starfield, for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “EPA and the State of Virginia worked with the HRSD to develop a long-term solution that will improve water quality for all communities, including those that are historically underserved and overburdened by pollution.”
Sanitary sewer systems work to collect and transport domestic, commercial, industrial wastewater, as well as some limited quantities of stormwaters and infiltrated groundwater to treatment facilities so they receive the appropriate treatment, the EPA said. Occasionally, these systems can release raw sewage, contaminating public water and causing risks to property and public health.
“SSOs throughout the Hampton Roads area can be detrimental to waterbodies in the area as well as their receiving waters including the Chesapeake Bay,” Adam Ortiz, EPA’s mid-Atlantic regional administrator, said in the release. “This consent decree modification is needed to ensure that HRSD implements necessary projects throughout their system to prevent SSOs.”
The 15 priority projects will be undertaken in Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg and York Counties. HRSD will be required to complete six projects by 2030, while the remaining nine have a deadline of 2040.
