CSO/Stormwater
Like many cities, Richmond has aging infrastructure. Parts of our sewer system are over 150 years old and were designed as a combined sewer system (CSS). The pipes were made to transport both wastewater and stormwater. During times of heavy rainfall or snow melt, the volume of water can exceed the capacity of the pipes and overflow into our waterways – including the James River – causing Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO).
The City has addressed the issue of CSO since the 1970s to markedly improve the water quality in the James River. Since 1988 approximately $350 million has been invested in support of cleaner water for our community. The city is committed to continued work toward Cleaner Water Faster.
The City of Richmond has been charged by the Virginia General Assembly with development and implementation of Interim and Final Plans to address Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO). The City’s Interim Plan is leveraging state-of-the-art technology to optimize existing infrastructure and reduce overflows in the short-term.
The plan proposes improvements to the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Outfall system by constructing a separate stormwater system to carry some of the stormwater out of our neighborhoods. This will reduce the amount of combined stormwater and wastewater in the combined sewer system, and ultimately reduce CSO overflows.
Combined Sewer Overflow Interim Plan
The final plan has been submitted to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Once approved it will be published here.
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.
There are 25 CSO outfalls located at various points along the James River within the city's CSO area.
This project is one of the mandated projects in Richmond’s Combined Sewer Overflow Interim Plan. This work includes the installation of a larger pipe that will hold more combined sewer system volume and infrastructure that will control flow.
Stormwater is rain or melted snow that flows over driveways, parking lots, roads, sidewalks, streets and roofs or any surface that cannot absorb water. As water travels over these surfaces, it picks up dirt, trash, oil, grease, pesticides, fertilizers, pet waste and other pollutants and carries them into our waterways.
Polluted stormwater runoff is the leading source of surface water pollution in the United States. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Conservation and Recreation have ordered aggressive standards for pollution reduction in the James River.
Each locality developed programs that identified and eliminated non-stormwater discharges in the storm sewer system, including illegal dumping of materials such as paint, leaves, debris, oils and grease into storm sewers.
Richmond is also responsible for the enforcement of programs controlling waste and sediment and reducing pollutants from construction sites - major contributors of urban stormwater pollution.
Each locality must bear the financial responsibility of these mandates since they do not come with state or federal funding.
In March 2013, the Virginia Soil & Water Conservation Board approved a new Virginia Stormwater Management Program (VSMP) general permit for Municipal Separate Storm Sewers (MS4) that became effective July 1, 2013. This permit is a federal mandate by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency whose purpose is to improve the water quality of stormwater runoff.
The City of Richmond is committed to helping the Commonwealth improve and preserve water quality for the 64,000 square mile watershed that flows to the Chesapeake Bay.