Key Norfolk sewage pipeline to be replaced

NORFOLK

The Hampton Roads Sanitation District has decided to replace a key pipeline beneath the Lafayette River that ruptured during Hurricane Irene and caused workers to pump thousands of gallons of raw sewage into the city waterway near the Virginia Zoo.

Ted Henifin, general manager of HRSD, said Wednesday the project is expected to cost about $3.5 million and likely will take about 18 months.

It still must be approved by the governing commission of HRSD, which meets month, and would be added to a list of other repairs and system upgrades costing more than $1.2 billion over the next 10 years.

Residents near a marshy cove off Luxemburg Avenue, who watched in disbelief as workers pumped sewage into the river for hours after the August hurricane, were delighted by the news.

Lori Hardee, whose family owns rental property on the cove, called the project "significant" and said it should keep future storms from spurring similar spills that put homes, residents and the environment at risk of contamination.

"We are thrilled," Hardee wrote in an email.

The same residents had few kind words for HRSD following the hurricane.

They complained the regional sewage agency did not return calls, did not say why workers had pumped some 448,000 gallons of sewage into the Lafayette, or explain how it intended to restore damaged wetlands and oyster beds.

But after problems were disclosed by The Virginian-Pilot, HRSD agreed to restore dead oysters, replant marsh grasses after experts surveyed the cove, and fix eroded areas near neighborhood homes and yards.

Initially, the pipeline in question was not on a list of upgrade projects, despite its condition and age.

But Henifin said Wednesday a detailed assessment of the 62-year-old line showed more deterioration than first thought.

So, he said, the decision was made to replace the pipeline, which carries much of the sewage in central and eastern Norfolk to a treatment plant across the river and near Old Dominion University.

Also, the new pipeline will be realigned slightly so it no longer snakes through backyards but lies beneath public property, Henifin said.

The existing line will be filled with a concrete-type substance and left on the bottom of the river, he said.

The new one will be laid beneath the Lafayette on a similar path as the old one, coming up just behind the zoo.

The sewage spill was believed to be the largest in the region sparked by flooding from Hurricane Irene.

HRSD did not publicly disclose the spill, though it contacted state environmental regulators in accordance with the law.

The agency did go public in late September with news that a power outage at a sewage treatment plant on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk had caused the release of 630,000 gallons of wastewater into the waterway, a move that forced a section of the river to be closed temporarily to human contact.

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com