The regional body that processes and treats sewage in urbanized Albemarle and Charlottesville has announced that a temporary pump station is now in place that can handle up to 50 million gallons a day of wastewater.
“On January 9, 2024, high rain and wastewater flows may have damaged equipment in the Rivanna Pump Station causing it to malfunction, become submerged, and discontinue operations,” reads a fact sheet on the RWSA website. “This resulted in several wastewater overflows from manholes in and around Riverview and Darden Towe parks.”
The pump station carries sewage from north Charlottesville and Albemarle County to the Moores Creek Advanced Water Resource Recovery Facility, part of the overall wastewater treatment plant run by the RWSA.
“The pump station lifts wastewater received at Moores Creek vertically about 100 feet so that it can be treated and eventually, once treatment is completed, released into Moores Creek,” the fact sheet continues.
A divided RWSA Board of Directors approved the location for this pump station in December 2011, as I reported for the time for Charlottesville Tomorrow. City officials supported this alternative because it allowed a similar facility next to Riverview Park to be decommissioned and not replaced on site.
After the flood, RWSA staff installed a temporary pump station that could handle up to 10 million gallons a day, but for one period of 26 hours, untreated wastewater was discharged into Moores Creek. Staff continue to investigate what happened to cause the malfunction.
Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment comes from the February 16, 2024 edition of the newsletter and podcast. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.
Discover more from Information Charlottesville
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
