Comment Period Open for River Renew Project

The Environment Assessment for Alexandria's  River ReNew project has been released and is open for a 30-day public comment period until July 19th . This proposed project is an overall win for the environment and will help meeting the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, but nothing is without cost and there are a few trade offs and residents may experience several years of disruption. Take a look at the report to see if there are portions you want to comment on.

For example: some of the options considered would require building a new promenade near the Robinson Terminal North. The Royal Street options locate construction activities a greater distance from residential properties and community gardens than the Green Street option. Additionally, the Royal Street options maintain access to Jones Point Park and are not anticipated to interfere with the Basilica School traffic movements. However, the Royal Street North option would allow the tunnel to be routed under an existing road through St. Mary’s Cemetery, whereas the Royal Street South option would require the tunnel to be routed under numerous graves which might require their removal. Choices have to be made. Construction is expected to take several years, so that even temporary disruptions to access to parks or road disruptions and noise may impact your life. Make sure you know how the project will impact your life and your concerns are heard.

Nonetheless, the work needs to be done. The area of Alexandria around Old Town has a Combined Sewer System which is a piped sewer system where there is one pipe that carries both sanitary sewage and stormwater to the local wastewater treatment plant, AlexRenew. This was how sewer systems were often built in the days when sanitation was simply moving sewage out of the city to the rivers and streams. Back then one piping system was cheaper and adequate for the job. Today when sewage is treated by waste water treatment plants that is no longer adequate.

When it rains, water that falls in the streets, enters the storm water drains and is combined with the sanitary waste water entering the sewers from homes and businesses. The combined flow of the sewage and rain can overwhelm the waste water treatment plant. So, to protect the sewage system as a whole, the combined sewage and rainfall is released into the local creeks from one of the “Combined Sewer Overflows” which are release locations permitted and monitored by the regulators. Though monitored, these releases increase nutrient and bacterial contamination to the streams and rivers.

On average, approximately 140 million gallons of combined sewage are discharged from these outfalls each year. The mixture of untreated sewage and rainwater, impair water quality by increasing bacteria levels which contributes to low dissolved oxygen levels. Low dissolved oxygen levels adversely affect aquatic life and can increase the potential for fish stress or fish kills. The combined sewer discharges also pose health risks to the general public associated with exposure to untreated sewage.

The 2017 mandate from the state legislature was to eliminate these overflows by 2025, creating a big challenge for the city that they were not sure they could meet without help. Based on the experience of Washington DC and other cities in addressing their combined sewer problem, Alexandria partnered with AlexRenew and submitted a long term control plan to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) that was approved on July 1, 2018.

From EA for River Renew project

In order to accomplish the plan, Alexandria transferred ownership of the outfalls and the interceptor lines (the sewer mains transporting to the raw sewage to the treatment plant) to AlexRenew. The approved plan, called RiverRenew, includes building a tunnel system with:

•  Storage tunnels
•  Conveyance tunnels
•  Diversion facilities (diversion chambers and drop shafts)
•  Dewatering pumping stations

and upgrading the AlexRenew waste water treatment plant by:

•  Adding a wet weather pumping station and
•  Increase treatment peak capacity for the waste water treatment plant from 108 to 116 million gallons a day

RiverRenew when completed will prevent millions of gallons of sewage mixed with rainwater from contaminating the Alexandria rivers and streams. This will limit the amount of bacteria, trash, and other pollutants flowing into Hooffs Run, Hunting Creek, and the Potomac River and achieve cleaner, healthier waterways for Alexandria. All the impacts of this project are not positive. An Environment Assessment is required to explore all the potential impact to the community of the various options and regulations require that there be and open comment period.

Most of the impacts addressed are short term, but there are also some long term environmental impacts to the proposed project parts. According to the Environmental Assessment general temporary impact identified are:

•  Construction could disturb soils and temporarily contribute to water quality degradation.
•  Construction could result in temporary disruptions to vehicle, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic.
•  Construction could result in disturbances to the Potomac River and Hooffs Run.
•  Temporary noise could be generated at construction sites and may extend into evening and weekend hours.

Longer term impacts identified:

•  The proposed action could detract from Jones Point Park not only during construction,but afterwards when permanent supporting tunnel infrastructure has been installed.
•  Construction could disturb known archeological resources and other areas of high archeological potential. 
•  Construction could take place in proximity to historic structures that are listed, and others that are eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Vibrations and ground movement caused by  construction of the tunnels and surface facilities could also affect the integrity of historic structures.