MC refining sewer plan

Central water is here. Sewer is being designed.

by Tom Chillemi – 

A wastewater collection system for the Topping area is being designed that would require Middlesex County to get in the sewer business. Here’s why.

Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) has stated that it will only operate a “vacuum” collection system, and will not operate a “low pressure system” like the county is designing.

Vacuum systems are much more costly to build than low pressure systems. The difference is a vacuum system pulls the wastewater, while a low pressure system pushes it.

On May 4, the Middlesex County Board of Supervisors (MCBS) authorized Timmons Engineering to design a “low pressure system” wastewater collection system for Topping. The county is responsible for building the collection system.

At the Dec. 7 meeting of the Middlesex County Board of Supervisors, Ken Turner of Timmons Engineering told the board the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has approved funding for the Topping collection system construction with a loan of about $2.5 million at “very favorable rate.”

Pump station

Lud Kimbrough represents the Pinetop District, that includes Deltaville, to the board of supervisors. This week, Kimbrough said the county will construct the collection system, terminal pump station and two miles of six-inch forced main sewer line on Route 3 (Grey’s Point Road).

HRSD will take over ownership, operation and maintenance of the terminal pump station and sewer forced main downstream of the pump station.

Deltaville

Timmons is also working on a preliminary engineering report for sewer in the Deltaville area, said Turner. He estimates it will serve 485 customers in the Deltaville area, based on the number of customers to be served by the Middlesex Water Authority.

Main line

Middlesex is partnering with HRSD, which has committed to run a main sewer line from Saluda down Routes 33 and 3 to connect to an existing line in Mathews and go ultimately to Yorktown for treatment. It’s slated to be online in 2024. The HRSD main line costs are estimated $31 million, states a January 2020 report to the MCBS. HRSD’s costs will be repaid by customers.