SPI Insights

Virginia – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will direct $477 million in financial assistance to the Hampton Roads Sanitation District to help retire the 80-year-old Boat Harbor Treatment Plant to further reduce nutrients discharged to the James River Basin, which will support local water quality and Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts.

This award is the second installment of a total of $1 billion in Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) assistance to help fund more than 20 projects that will enable the district to close the wastewater treatment plant.

The Sustainable Water Infrastructure for Tomorrow (SWIFT) Program includes more than twenty projects across the Hampton Roads service area to upgrade existing treatment works and build full-scale SWIFT facilities that will ultimately replenish the overdrawn Potomac Aquifer with water treated to meet drinking water standards.

By replenishing the Potomac Aquifer, the program will foster climate resilience by restoring water supplies, preventing saltwater intrusion, and mitigating land subsidence for the 1.7 million residents served by the water system. The program will improve the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay by reducing 90 percent of the district’s wastewater discharges to the watershed.

Design work on the most expensive project – a $149 million effluent pump station and transmission force main – is expected to conclude soon prior to the district advertising for bids. Construction for tranche 2 projects will occur between 2021-2029.