The main sewer line from Saluda to Yorktown is on “pause.” The two bids for the 17-mile pipeline were reportedly 80% higher than estimated by Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD).
Middlesex County’s plan to build wastewater collection systems in Topping, Hartfield and Deltaville is also “paused.”
Release
At an Oct. 21 sewer work session, the Middlesex County Board of Supervisors voted to release the $1.8 million loan received through the Clean Water Revolving Fund Loan; and another $800,000 in grant funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021. This was done as a courtesy to the funding agencies, so the funds can be used by others. Plus, the county had until 2026 to use the money, and with the HRSD main pipeline on hold, that deadline could not be met.
The county can apply for loans later, said Middlesex County Administrator Matt Walker.
Pipe to Saluda
Almost ready is a wastewater pipe to the Saluda treatment plant from Cooks Corner, where the new Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office headquarters is under construction and a 24-unit apartment building has been proposed.
Sending wastewater from Cooks Corner to Saluda has always been the temporary plan until the HRSD pipeline was built.
Expansion
The issue: the Saluda plant will need to expand to handle much more wastewater. It serves the Middlesex government offices, courthouses, and the jail. It averages processing 12,000 gallons per day (GPD) and the treated water goes into a stream that flows to Urbanna Creek.
The plant’s permit is for 28,000 GPD.
The Timmons Group, the county’s consultants, can foresee the Saluda plant’s remaining 16,000 GPD capacity being used up quickly. Current estimates leave only 7,600 GPD left over for growth.
In two years, 2026, the estimated flow to the Saluda plant would be 5,000 GPD more than the current permit allows, according to Timmons. To stay under the permit limit the amount of wastewater would need to be regulated and “rationed.”
Jail’s plant
The jail is the reason there’s a treatment plant in Saluda. About 1995 when the Middle Peninsula Regional Security Center needed a bigger jail, no neighborhood wanted it, so the jail expanded on land it owned… and built a sewage treatment plant.
HRSD took ownership and operation of it.
Land purchased
The county still owns land behind the Saluda Park & Ride (on the north side of General Puller Highway — Route 33) that was purchased about 30 years ago with intention of building a treatment plant. But the county eventually hooked on to the jail treatment plant.
Concept
The county’s concept is to run wastewater collection lines along Gloucester Road that meets U.S. Route 17 at the Hardee’s fast food restaurant; and on General Puller Highway to Food Lion.
A subdivision with 80-plus houses was approved by the county about 15 years ago on Gloucester Road near the Riverside Lifelong Health & Rehabilitation care facility. No houses have been built.
Restricted
The main line from Cooks Corner to Saluda cannot be hooked into except where there is a pump station, said Walker. In other words, a landowner can’t connect directly to the line, must connect to a collection system that flows to a pump station that feeds the main line.
Urbanna’s plant
That’s only part of the story. The Urbanna treatment plant also discharges into Urbanna Creek. It’s been a crusade for decades by local residents to eliminate discharge. But HRSD is under no regulatory pressure to stop discharging into Urbanna Creek.
Urbanna’s plant has been around for more than 50 years. It’s state permitted to discharge 100,000 GPD. Its average for 2023 was 56,000 GPD. So far this year its flow was 61,000 GPD.
When HRSD’s pipeline is complete both the Saluda and Urbanna plants will be shut down.
