PORTSMOUTH — City Council members praised response efforts from Hampton Roads Sanitation District on a failed sewer main incident earlier this month that resulted in a spill of more than 3 million gallons of sewage.
A 30-inch sewer main broke around 6 p.m. Aug. 4 on Douglas Avenue near the intersection with Rolfe Terrace. An estimated 3.2 million gallons of wastewater spilled near the Port Norfolk area, according to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
HRSD’s Shawn Heselton briefed Portsmouth City Council members last week on the “herculean effort” to repair the pipe and begin clean-up efforts within 72 hours of the failure, with the assistance of Portsmouth Public Utilities, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Virginia Department of Health and the Elizabeth River Project. Though the official root cause is still being analyzed, Heselton attributed the failure to internal corrosion, system stress and changes in pressure — all exacerbated by a heavy downpour that dropped as much as 6 inches of rain in a few hours, flooding parts of the region.
HRSD discovered a large hole in the top of the 1940s-era concrete pipe. Hours after failure of the pressurized sewer pipe, HRSD began clean-up efforts, which involved round-the-clock pumping and hauling of sewage from 30 trucks. HRSD crews were able to stop the flow of the sewage by early morning Aug. 5. Two sections of concrete sewer pipe needed to be replaced with PVC pipe.
