On January 9, 2024, high rain and wastewater flows damaged equipment in the Rivanna Pump Station at the Moores Creek Advanced Water Resource Recovery Facility (MCAWRRF), causing it to become submerged and discontinue operations. This construction project is repairing the damage and making improvements to the pump station. This project is expected to be completed and the pump station fully operational in October of 2025.
What Does the Moores Creek Advanced Water Resource Recovery Facility Do and How Does the Rivanna Pump Station Contribute?
The Moores Creek Advanced Water Resource Recovery Facility (MCAWRRF) is the facility that processes the wastewater received from approximately 130,000 public wastewater customers in Charlottesville and the adjacent developed areas of Albemarle County, including Crozet. The Rivanna Pump Station is located at the MCAWRRF in Charlottesville. Wastewater comes to this facility primarily through gravity-driven flows from the northern parts of Charlottesville and Albemarle County each day. This facility pumps between 5 and 50 million gallons of wastewater daily. It is the largest pump station in the wastewater system, serving approximately 60% of the public utility customers in our community. The pump station lifts wastewater received at Moores Creek vertically about 100 feet so that it can be treated and released into Moores Creek.
What Was RWSA’s Response
In coordination with RWSA’s contractors and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the RWSA’s team responded immediately to continue service and minimize any impacts on the environment. A temporary pumping system was installed to divert normal wastewater flows around the damaged Rivanna Pump Station for treatment. Unfortunately, for a 26-hour period, it was necessary to discharge untreated wastewater into Moores Creek to remove the water from the lower levels of the pump station. RWSA coordinated this discharge with the Virginia DEQ prior to the wastewater discharge, and RWSA notified downstream users. Areas in the parks where the overflows occurred were raked, cleaned, and sanitized and the manholes were restored. There have been no overflows in the parks since January 18, 2024.
RWSA Maintenance staff and contractors completed a 50 million-gallon-per-day pumping and piping bypass system that will convey wastewater around the damaged pump station to complete the normal treatment process. The system enabled RWSA to manage higher wastewater flows received during storm events.
RWSA used a contractor, Belfor, to clean and sanitize the interior spaces of the pump station. Contractors and engineers accessed the pump rooms and began to test pipes, pumps, and valves to determine the cause of the malfunction.
RWSA engineers completed the field investigations, performed a damage assessment inspection on the pump station electrical system, and coordinated the removal of equipment. Contractors drained the interior pump station pipes followed by the dismantling, cleaning, and packaging all six permanent pumps and motors. The pumps and motors were shipped to a facility in North Carolina for evaluation. The motor-operated plug valves and check valves were inspected by manufacturer representatives.
In the spring of 2025, the temporary bypass pumps were removed, and the pump station was brought back online.