Sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) reported — Henrico County Department of Public Utilities (Henrico Water Reclamation Facility and collection system), Oct 23, 2026

Record details

Original source data

{
  "report": {
    "id": "325966",
    "via": "api",
    "incident": "2026-10-23T07:49:00",
    "incident_end": null,
    "received": "2026-10-23T18:03:00",
    "closed": "2026-10-29T06:42:58",
    "modified": "2026-10-29T06:42:58",
    "date_unknown": false,
    "site_name": "SSOs - Henrico Conveyance - Gillies Creek Pump Station",
    "address": "2501 Jennie Scher Road",
    "city": "Henrico",
    "zip": "23231",
    "county_city": "Richmond City",
    "region": "Piedmont",
    "status_text": "Closed",
    "categories": [
      "Sanitary Sewer Overflow"
    ],
    "waterbody": "Gillie Creek",
    "other_waterbody": null,
    "original_waterbody": "Gillie Creek",
    "water_threatened": "Y",
    "low": 0,
    "high": 1405450,
    "unit": "Gallons",
    "ssors": null,
    "nrc": [],
    "vdem": null,
    "epa": null,
    "facility_name": "Henrico County Water Reclamation Facility",
    "facility_permitted": "Y",
    "responsible_company": null,
    "still_occurring": "N"
  },
  "text": {
    "incident_comment": "Henrico County Department of Public Utilities submits this five-day written report for three sanitary sewer overflows from the 24-inch force main serving the Gillies Creek Sewage Pumping Station, 2501 Jennie Scher Road. Each overflow was reported to DEQ within 24 hours. Because all three occurred on the same section of force main within four days, this letter covers all three. \n\nThe overflows followed the return of the station pumps to service on October 20, 2026, as part of ongoing improvements to the facility. All three occurred in the ravine between the railroad crossing and the end of Kemp Avenue. The Break 1 and Break 2 discharges reached Gillies Creek, a tributary of the James River. \n\nSummary of Overflows:\n\nDiscovered Break 1:  Oct 23, 7:49 a.m.  Station shut down:  Oct 24, 7:45 a.m.  Discharge ended:  Oct 24, about 11:00 a.m.  Estimated rate:  About 650 gpm.  Estimated volume:  About 965,100 gallons.  Reached Gillies Creek:  Yes.  Cause:  hole about the size of a \ngolf ball in the bottom of the pipe.  Repair:  24-inch wraparound clamp.\n\nDiscovered Break 2:  Oct 26, about 10:44 a.m.  Station shut down:  Oct 26, 12:25 p.m.  Discharge ended:  Oct 26, about 5:14 p.m.  Estimated rate:  About 2,500 gpm.  Estimated volume:  About 433,100 gallons.  Reached Gillies Creek:  Yes.  Cause:  3-inch hole in the bottom of the pipe.  Repair:  24-inch wraparound sleeve.\n\nDiscovered Break 3:  Oct 26, 9:35 p.m.  Station shut down:  Oct 26, 9:35 p.m. (restarted 11:00 p.m. w/ no change in leak rate).  Discharge ended: Not observed; no leak at 10:44 a.m. on Oct 27.  Estimated rate:  About 10 gpm.  Estimated volume:  <7,250 gallons.  Reached Gillies Creek:  none observed.  Cause:  small leak about 50 ft from Break 2.  Repair:  None needed; leak ceased and was not found\n\nThe three overflows total an estimated 1,405,450 gallons. Volumes are based on the observed leak rates while the pumps were running, plus one-quarter of those rates while the force main drained after each shutdown.\n\nResponse and Repairs - For each break, the station was shut down, and incoming flow was stored in the station's 4-million-gallon flow equalization basin. The County's Annual Contractor, G. L. Howard, Inc., cleared access to each site and repaired Breaks 1 and 2 with 24-inch wraparound sleeves. \n\nBreak 3 was found during the test run after the Break 2 repair. The next morning, the site was dry, and staff inspection found no leak. The Break 3 volume conservatively assumes the leak continued until 10:44 a.m. \n\nCleanup and Environmental Assessment - Beginning October 29, 2026, County staff will strip the affected soil, replace it with new topsoil, and apply lime to deodorize the area. Staff will check dissolved oxygen in Gillies Creek twice daily. They will also check for fish kills, odor, and water discoloration. Monitoring will continue until further assessment shows it is no longer necessary. \n\nCorrective and Preventive Actions - 1. Ramping the pumps up gradually when the station is returned to service, and monitoring the force main during startup. 2. Shutting down the station and using the basin's storage whenever a leak is close to the station's discharge rate. 3. Evaluating the condition of the force main, including the cause of the holes and possible surge pressures, to decide whether more repairs or partial replacements are needed. 4. Continuing to monitor the easement and Gillies Creek for signs of further breaks. 5. The next phase of facilities improvements under CIP includes the complete force main replacement.",
    "location_comment": "An overflow occurred on the 24-inch forcemain south of MH#048NW021 (on the 8-inch gravity sewer) and south of the Gillies Creek Sewage Pumping Station, located at 2501 Jennie Scher Road.",
    "closure_comment": null
  },
  "sewage": [],
  "status_log": [
    {
      "at": "2026-10-26T07:07:19",
      "type": "Call Received"
    },
    {
      "at": "2026-10-26T07:10:08",
      "type": "Under Investigation"
    },
    {
      "at": "2026-10-26T07:10:08",
      "type": "Assigned"
    },
    {
      "at": "2026-10-26T11:45:55",
      "type": "Assigned"
    },
    {
      "at": "2026-10-29T06:42:58",
      "type": "Closed Call/IR"
    }
  ],
  "created_in_prep": "2026-10-26T07:07:19",
  "event_type_basis": "DEQ category Sanitary Sewer Overflow",
  "permit": {
    "typed_permit": "VA0063690",
    "deq_vpdes_links": [
      "VA0063690"
    ],
    "ms4": null,
    "ms4_links": null,
    "basis": "DEQ's VPDES link on the report"
  },
  "discharger_match": {
    "by_permit": "va-henrico-dpu",
    "by_name": [
      "va-henrico-dpu"
    ],
    "result": "by permit"
  },
  "volume_basis": "DEQ estimate of the quantity reaching water",
  "_ended_at_basis": null,
  "_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": "Gillie Creek",
    "towns": [
      "Henrico",
      "Richmond City"
    ],
    "notes": null,
    "echo_outfall": null
  },
  "point": {
    "lat": 37.529806,
    "lon": -77.391908,
    "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": "2026-10-23T07:49:00-04:00",
    "edma_received": "2026-10-23T18:03:00-04:00"
  },
  "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/325966?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 325966, reported Oct 23, 2026, 6:03 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.