VDEQ: More Than 1K Gallons of Sewage Spilled

Fredericksburg officials told the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality that at least 1,000 gallons of sewage spilled into the Rappahannock River for 22 hours last Tuesday and Wednesday. This, according to Ed Stuart, Regional Water Compliance Manager with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

"We would have hoped that the duration of the overflow would have been shorter in time," said Stuart in a phone interview earlier this afternoon. "I'm confident that once the event occurred, the city did everything it could to get on top of the situation."

The exact amount of the spill cannot be solidly determined, because the overflow chamber from which the sewage leaked has no meter on it.

VDEQ regulates sewer systems in Virginia and is responsible for issuing permits and enforcing permit conditions imposed on those systems.

Sewer system operators are required to report leaks like last Tuesday's within 24 hours of discovery. Stuart says the city met its requirement for the initial alert. The malfunctioning pump was discovered around 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 22 by city staff when alarms went off. By 9:15 p.m. on Nov. 23, the city had reported the event to the VDEQ.

Following the 24 hour notification, the city is also required to send a second update five days later. Stuart said the city met this requirmenet, with a five day update received on the 28th.

According to Stuart, state regulations say that if more than 1,000 gallons of sewage is spilled into state waterways then an investigation is triggered. Such an investigation is underway now by the VDEQ into the leak. The investigation could result in warning letters or points could be assessed against the city's sewer treatment license in a manner similar to how wreckless drivers are given points after violations. As more points are accumulated, penalties become stiffer and the permit could be revoked.

Stuart says he has asked Fredericksburg officials to provide maintenance information for all of the remaining seven sewage pumps in the city. He says the goal is to learn from this incident to try and prevent others in the future.

Stuart says that it is hard to qualify the extent of the spill without an accurate account of how much sewage leaked.

"How this one rates compared to anybody else's? It's hard to say," said Stuart. "Despite everybody's best intentions, these things happen and it happens throughout Virginia. Unfortunately it happens more often than it should."

Though each spill is different, Stuart notes a common contributing factor in each one: decaying infrastructure.

"Out of sight out of mind," says Stuart. "A road you drive over every day with potholes, you know it needs to be fixed. With the majority of sewage systems underground, it's if you don't see it, it doesn't get fixed."