Aging stormwater system concerns JCC
It's July 3. Aging stormwater systems can cause overflows that spill sewage, and will cost $$ to fix, officials say. Extreme heat warning extended through July 4.
Aging stormwater collection systems in the Historic Triangle aren’t keeping up with housing growth, officials say, leading to overflows that can dump sewage that raises the ire of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Over the years underwater pipes crack, tree roots invade lines, and other maintenance problems arise.
The solution – as with our aging roads, bridges and power grid – won’t be cheap, say officials from the James City Service Authority and the Hampton Roads Sanitation District. And the money to pay for it will come from ratepayers and developers.
The James City utility rolled out a five-year plan to raise water and sewage fees by 45% for the average single-family home to cover increased operating and infrastructure costs. It is studying various approaches to reducing overflows, said General Manager M. Douglas Robertson.
The Hampton Roads Sanitation District, which takes the sewage pumped by JCSA and other local sewage systems and processes it, has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to keep up with aging infrastructure, said Chris Stephan, the director of the agency’s interceptor system in our area.
“These are multi-year, if not decades-long programs,” Stephan told Williamsburg Watch in a recent interview.
JCSA uses separate lines for stormwater and for the sewage that it sends to the treatment plant, Robertson said. But in high rain events leaking pipes can overpower the utility’s pumping stations with stormwater that raises pressure so much that overflows occur.
JCSA and HRSD have been operating for nearly two decades under a consent decree from the Environmental Protection Agency because of the problem.
There were 87 overflow events between 2020 and 2024 in James City County, according to a sewer capacity study Robertson presented to the JCSA board a year ago. They were all caused by high water pressures during heavy rain.
The study said the water systems in the northern end of the county have been the biggest recent problem, which will grow as development continues in the Stonehouse area and Colonial Heritage.
The study did not take into account three new developments that James City supervisors will be considering over the next few months.
HRSD is working with James City, York County and Williamsburg to see how they can resolve high pressure issues cost effectively Stephan said.
“ I don’t think (the process) ever gets completed,” Stephan said. “Infrastructure is a living, entity. As time goes on, different problems develop. New subdivisions become old subdivisions, and those develop cracks and problems and such.”
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Extreme heat warning extended through July 4
The Wakefield office of the National Weather Service extended its Extreme Heat warning through 8 pm. July 4.
Weather officials warned heat index values of 110 degrees or higher would create dangerous conditions without adequate safety precautions.
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