Henrico reports third sewage spill in two weeks

Two weeks after Henrico County officials reported the first of two sewer main breaks in Gillies Creek, which sent about 1.4 million gallons of sewage into the creek, another sewer spill occurred in Eastern Henrico.

The third and most recent incident happened at 8:43 a.m., Nov. 6 at the Almond Creek Waste Water Pump Station at 5700 Old Osborne Turnpike, according to a Virginia Department of Environmental Quality report.

The spill, which according to the DEQ report resulted from heavy rain and the malfunction of a bypass pump, entered Almond Creek and continued for about 39 minutes, until about 9:22 a.m.

The pump was quickly repaired by county employees, limiting the discharge volume to a total of about 3,900 gallons, meaning it was significantly smaller than the Oct. 23 and 26 Gillies Creek incidents.

The affected area was cleaned, according to the DEQ, which reported that “no adverse impacts associated with the overflow have been observed.”