Sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) reported, Aug 4, 2026

Record details

Original source data

{
  "report": {
    "id": "324738",
    "via": "api",
    "incident": "2026-08-04T19:16:57",
    "incident_end": null,
    "received": "2026-08-04T21:30:58",
    "closed": null,
    "modified": "2026-08-18T08:37:45",
    "date_unknown": false,
    "site_name": "SSO - Douglass Ave - Portsmouth",
    "address": "154 Rolfe Terrace",
    "city": "Portsmouth",
    "zip": "23707",
    "county_city": "Portsmouth City",
    "region": "Tidewater",
    "status_text": "Under Investigation",
    "categories": [
      "Risk Tier 3",
      "Sanitary Sewer Overflow"
    ],
    "waterbody": "Hull Creek",
    "other_waterbody": null,
    "original_waterbody": null,
    "water_threatened": "Y",
    "low": 3137500,
    "high": 3137500,
    "unit": "Gallons",
    "ssors": "106791",
    "nrc": [
      "1469821",
      "1469813"
    ],
    "vdem": "VDEM-2026-08-04-0016",
    "epa": null,
    "facility_name": null,
    "facility_permitted": "N",
    "responsible_company": null,
    "still_occurring": "Y"
  },
  "text": {
    "incident_comment": "DEQ received a report of an active SSO from a manhole near the intersection of Douglass Ave and Rolfe Terr in Portmsouth VA.\n\nDEQ received an updated report from HRSD stating, there was a failure on a 30\" RCP force main. Pump and haul efforts are reducing flows to the line failure so HRSD can make repairs. HRSD is continuing to remediate the impacted areas and working to restore the line.\n\nHRSD completed repairs 08/7/26 and restoration and remediation efforts are ongoing.",
    "location_comment": "Intersection of Rolfe Terrace and Douglas Avenue in Port Norfolk(Portsmouth). Major sewage transmission line has ruptured and thousands of gallons of sewage flowing into Hull Creek of the Elizabeth River.",
    "closure_comment": null
  },
  "sewage": [
    {
      "duration_h": 14,
      "component": "Pipe Failure",
      "component_id": 3,
      "volume_gal": 3137500,
      "volume_unknown": "N",
      "wet_weather": "N",
      "treated": "N",
      "precipitation_in": null,
      "causes": [
        "Broken Pipe"
      ],
      "impacts": [
        "Discharge to State Waters"
      ],
      "corrective_action": "Staff immediately engaged our oncall contractor, Bridgeman Civil, and our oncall consultant, Hazen for assistance. Staff also engaged Portsmouth counterparts and pump and haul service contractors because there were two city stations in between the nearest mainline valves. Staff isolated the failed section of force main diverting all waste water through a parallel pipe and then began pumping and hauling the city stations in between the closed mainline valves. Flows dropped dramatically through the night and officially stopped on the morning of August 5 at approximately 7:38 am. Through the night, as pump station flows were handled by pumper trucks, flows receded, staff and contractor forces worked to clean up standing sewage and debris. Lime was spread through the evening as vactors and shovels were used for a substantial manual clean up. HRSD's oncall contractor brought in a long arm excavator and matting to remove grit and debris from the vacant parcel and to recover grit and sediment in the water that was reachable from shore. The failed pipe sections (2) were removed on August 6 and replaced with new PVC pipe and couplings. Manual cleanup of the roadway, adjacent yards, the vacant lot and the water way continued during the August 6 and 7. The force main was placed back in service on August 7 and City stations were turned on.",
      "steps_taken": null,
      "component_comment": null,
      "other_cause": null
    }
  ],
  "status_log": [
    {
      "at": "2026-08-04T21:30:30",
      "type": "Call Received"
    },
    {
      "at": "2026-08-05T10:55:36",
      "type": "Assigned"
    },
    {
      "at": "2026-08-05T10:55:36",
      "type": "Under Investigation"
    }
  ],
  "created_in_prep": "2026-08-04T21:30:30",
  "event_type_basis": "DEQ category Sanitary Sewer Overflow",
  "permit": {
    "typed_permit": null,
    "deq_vpdes_links": null,
    "ms4": null,
    "ms4_links": null,
    "basis": "none"
  },
  "discharger_match": {
    "by_permit": null,
    "by_name": null
  },
  "volume_basis": "sewage report discharge volume (gallons)",
  "_ended_at_basis": "incident time + duration 14 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": "Hull Creek",
    "towns": [
      "Portsmouth",
      "Portsmouth City"
    ],
    "notes": null,
    "echo_outfall": null
  },
  "point": {
    "lat": 36.850855,
    "lon": -76.340284,
    "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": "2026-08-04T19:16:57-04:00",
    "edma_received": "2026-08-04T21:30:58-04:00"
  },
  "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/324738?expand=prepStatusCode,prepUnitTypeCode,prepReportSewages.prepComponentTypeCode,prepReportSewages.prepSewageCauses.prepCauseCode,prepReportSewages.prepSewageImpacts.prepImpactTypeCode,prepReportReleaseSubtypes.prepReleaseSubtypeCode,prepReportPermitViews,prepOriginalReport,prepReportEvents.prepEventTypeCode,prepFipsCode.fipsRegion",
  "duplicates": [
    "va-deq-prep:324765"
  ]
}

Source: Virginia DEQ Pollution Response Program (PReP), Tidewater Regional Office via Virginia DEQ Pollution Response Program (PReP) pollution reports, sewage-related, record 324738, reported Aug 4, 2026, 9:30 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.