Report not fully read reported, May 22, 2026

Record details

Original source data

{
  "report": {
    "id": "323665",
    "via": "api",
    "incident": "2026-05-22T23:00:26",
    "incident_end": null,
    "received": "2026-05-23T15:23:14",
    "closed": "2026-05-28T08:21:34",
    "modified": "2026-05-28T08:21:34",
    "date_unknown": false,
    "site_name": "Philip Morris USA Inc - Bells Rd Complex - UPD of cooling system blowdown",
    "address": "3601 Commerce Road",
    "city": "Richmond",
    "zip": "23234",
    "county_city": "Richmond City",
    "region": "Piedmont",
    "status_text": "Closed",
    "categories": [
      "Unauthorized Discharge of Pollutant(s)"
    ],
    "waterbody": "James River",
    "other_waterbody": null,
    "original_waterbody": null,
    "water_threatened": "Y",
    "low": 0,
    "high": 42300,
    "unit": "Gallons",
    "ssors": null,
    "nrc": [],
    "vdem": null,
    "epa": null,
    "facility_name": null,
    "facility_permitted": "Y",
    "responsible_company": null,
    "still_occurring": "N"
  },
  "text": {
    "incident_comment": "Philip Morris USA Inc. - Manufacturing Center Complex (the \"Facility\") hereby submits this written report regarding an unauthorized discharge resulting from a break in a sanitary sewer force main associated with the Facility's wastewater system. A copy of this report has also been provided to the City of Richmond Department of Utilities Collection System & Regulatory Affairs Division.\nIncident Summary - On May 22, 2026, the Facility became aware of a suspected break in a sewer force main conveying wastewater from Outfall MC-001 to the on site pretreatment system. The failure resulted in an unauthorized discharge to the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4). \nInitial notification of the discharge was made to the Virginia DEQ via the on line reporting portal on May 23, 2026, in accordance with Permit reporting requirements.\nLocation - The discharge occurred at or near the following coordinates: 37°28'24.85\"N, 77°26'15.57\"W\nDuration and Volume - Based on system data and operator estimates, the discharge is estimated to have occurred from approximately 11:05 PM on May 22 to 1:26 AM on May 23, when the lift station pump at Outfall MC-001 was shutdown. The estimated total discharge volume is approximately 42,300 gallons. \nNature of the Discharge - At the time of this report, the discharge is understood to consist primarily of cooling system blowdown. Due to this incident taking place when the amount of personnel at the Facility was limited, the amount of domestic sewage included in the discharge was minimal.\nReceiving System - The discharge entered the Facility's stormwater system and was likely conveyed to the James River through the City of Richmond Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4).\nCause of the Incident - Preliminary investigation indicates that the discharge was caused by a failure of the sewer force main, potentially associated with a section of piping installed in April 2025. Additional investigation will be carried out during excavation and repair of the force main.\nImmediate Corrective Actions - The Facility has taken the following actions to address the incident: \n• Isolated and shut down pumps to stop the discharge. \n• Engaged a contractor to excavate and repair the damaged force main. \n• Developed and initiated a repair plan, with repair activities scheduled to begin Thursday, May 28, 2026. \nPreventive Measures - The Facility will evaluate and implement appropriate measures to prevent recurrence, which may  include operational and monitoring improvements to enable earlier detection of failures.\nThe Facility will continue to investigate the incident and will provide additional information if it materially changes the understanding of the discharge, its cause, or corrective actions as described in this letter.",
    "location_comment": "The discharge was observed on the north side of the property. Employees noticed water emerging from the riprap and flowing directly into the stormwater culvert, contributing to the release described above.",
    "closure_comment": null
  },
  "sewage": [
    {
      "duration_h": 2.33,
      "component": "Force Main",
      "component_id": 15,
      "volume_gal": 42300,
      "volume_unknown": null,
      "wet_weather": "N",
      "treated": "N",
      "precipitation_in": null,
      "causes": [
        "Broken Pipe"
      ],
      "impacts": [
        "Discharge to State Waters"
      ],
      "corrective_action": "The Facility has taken the following actions to address the incident: \n• Isolated and shut down pumps to stop the discharge. \n• Engaged a contractor to excavate and repair the damaged force main. \n• Developed and initiated a repair plan, with repair activities scheduled to begin Thursday, May 28, 2026.",
      "steps_taken": null,
      "component_comment": null,
      "other_cause": null
    }
  ],
  "status_log": [
    {
      "at": "2026-05-23T15:23:15",
      "type": "Call Received"
    },
    {
      "at": "2026-05-26T07:57:54",
      "type": "Under Investigation"
    },
    {
      "at": "2026-05-26T07:57:54",
      "type": "Assigned"
    },
    {
      "at": "2026-05-26T11:06:28",
      "type": "Assigned"
    },
    {
      "at": "2026-05-28T08:21:34",
      "type": "Closed Call/IR"
    }
  ],
  "created_in_prep": "2026-05-23T15:23:15",
  "event_type_basis": "DEQ category Unauthorized Discharge of Pollutant(s) is not a sewer-overflow category",
  "permit": {
    "typed_permit": "VAR051019",
    "deq_vpdes_links": null,
    "ms4": null,
    "ms4_links": null,
    "basis": "permit number on the original report"
  },
  "discharger_match": {
    "by_permit": null,
    "by_name": null
  },
  "volume_basis": "sewage report discharge volume (gallons)",
  "_ended_at_basis": "incident time + duration 2.33 h (sewage report)",
  "_time_basis": "PReP API times are local wall-clock times with no zone, read as America/New_York. The export table stores local time + 5 h all year (decoded by subtracting 5 h); the EDMA point layer stores local time labelled as UTC (decoded by reading the UTC clock as local).",
  "water_placement": {
    "text": "James River",
    "towns": [
      "Richmond",
      "Richmond City"
    ],
    "notes": null,
    "echo_outfall": null
  },
  "point": {
    "lat": 37.473205,
    "lon": -77.430008,
    "layer": "DEQ EDMA layer 175 (PReP Reports, Daily)",
    "reference_point": "PG",
    "note": "DEQ's geocode of the report's site address (REFERENCE_POINT 'PG'), not an outfall point",
    "edma_incident": "2026-05-22T23:00:26-04:00",
    "edma_received": "2026-05-23T15:23:14-04:00"
  },
  "attribution": "DEQ is the data source. DEQ does not certify that this data represents a complete record. This data is provided to the citizens of the Commonwealth free of charge and for informational purposes only.",
  "api_url": "https://portal.deq.virginia.gov/prep/api/prepReports/323665?expand=prepStatusCode,prepUnitTypeCode,prepReportSewages.prepComponentTypeCode,prepReportSewages.prepSewageCauses.prepCauseCode,prepReportSewages.prepSewageImpacts.prepImpactTypeCode,prepReportReleaseSubtypes.prepReleaseSubtypeCode,prepReportPermitViews,prepOriginalReport,prepReportEvents.prepEventTypeCode,prepFipsCode.fipsRegion"
}

Source: Virginia DEQ Pollution Response Program (PReP), Piedmont Regional Office via Virginia DEQ Pollution Response Program (PReP) pollution reports, sewage-related, record 323665, reported May 23, 2026, 3:23 PM EDT, retrieved 2026-11-03 02:40 UTC · Read the original notice

Staff names, email addresses and phone numbers are removed from source data before it is stored.