Address: 900 E. Broad St.,
Room 115
Richmond, VA 23219
Phone: (804) 646-4646
For gas leaks, leave the area and call 911
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Click here to view the map that identifies the material of water service lines.
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Combined Sewer System
Richmond is one of more than 950 municipalities in the country with a combined sewer system. and is the largest in Virginia at approximately 12,000 acres or one-third of the City. Before indoor plumbing and wastewater treatment, cities built sewer systems to carry stormwater away from homes, businesses and streets. As the population grew and modern bathrooms came into existence, plumbing was hooked into the these existing storm sewers, making them "combined" sanitary and stormwater sewers.
Combined sewer systems collect rainwater runoff, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater in the same pipe and sends it all to the wastewater treatment plant. There it all has to be treated and then discharged to a body of water; in our case, the James River.