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This story was originally published at 9:27 a.m. on July 10 and has been updated with additional information from AlexRenew, including that sewage reached Hooffs Run and an estimated overflow volume of about 68,000 gallons.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Sewage reached Hooffs Run after a blocked sewer line overflowed on Commonwealth Avenue late Thursday, releasing an estimated 68,000 gallons, AlexRenew, the city's wastewater utility, said Friday.
AlexRenew said it learned of the overflow at about 10:15 p.m. July 9, determined that an interceptor line was blocked, and activated pumps to redirect flows to a neighboring pumping station by 11 p.m. Crews cordoned off and cleaned the affected area overnight. The utility said an investigation found that a foreign object had obstructed the pipe, causing the blockage.
The overflow was confined to about a block of Commonwealth Avenue, said Matt Robertson, AlexRenew's director of communications. Robertson said the total overflow was an estimated 68,000 gallons, a figure the utility described as still approximate, and that some of it entered the storm drain — a portion he earlier put in the tens of thousands of gallons — which flows to Hooffs Run, a stream that runs through the city.
AlexRenew notified both the Alexandria Health Department and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality about the incident, Robertson said. As of publication, neither agency had issued a public advisory related to the overflow.
Normal flow has been restored, and AlexRenew said crews will continue remediation in the area in the coming days. The utility said it is reaching out to affected customers.
Separately, AlexRenew said its RiverRenew tunnel — the deep-sewer system built to capture stormwater and sewage that would otherwise overflow into local waterways — captured about 1 million gallons during a storm Thursday evening. That capture was unrelated to the Commonwealth Avenue blockage.
The overflow reached a stream that has been central to AlexRenew's largest project. The utility's RiverRenew program, which went fully online July 1, was built to sharply reduce combined sewer overflows — the mix of stormwater and sewage that spilled into local waterways during heavy rain — and Hooffs Run was one of its main targets. AlexRenew completed the Commonwealth Interceptor about a year ago, restored the adjacent African American Heritage Park with a boardwalk and native plantings, and reported a roughly 90 percent reduction in combined overflows in Hooffs Run, with a 99 percent reduction projected once a new pumping station comes online.
Thursday's overflow, however, was a different kind of failure. Combined sewer overflows are driven by rain overwhelming shared pipes — the problem RiverRenew was designed to address. This overflow was a sanitary sewer overflow caused by a physical blockage in the line, which the tunnel and interceptor system is not designed to prevent.
AlexRenew treats wastewater for the City of Alexandria. Hooffs Run flows through the city, including African American Heritage Park. Sanitary sewer overflows are reported to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
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