The impending shutdown of two electric generators at the Yorktown Power Station in 2015 has the operators of a nearby wastewater treatment plant seeking to build a 4-foot-wide pipe across the power station and into the waters of the York River where proposed underwater equipment would dilute treated water before it is released into the river.
Hampton Roads Sanitation District operates the York River Treatment Plant in Seaford, less than half a mile from the adjacent coal- and oil-powered Yorktown Power Station. The station uses a canal to cool water discharged from its power generators. A 48-inch diameter concrete pipe pumps treated water from the HRSD plant to the canal, where the water mixes with the water in the canal in a process known as diffusion before being discharged into the York River.
Without the water discharged from the generators, the amount of water in the canal will not be sufficient to diffuse the water from the treatment plant, according to HRSD. To rectify that situation, HRSD is proposing to extend the concrete pipe by about 1,200 feet to the bank of the York River and then another 3,300 feet out to equipment proposed to be set 35 feet underwater. That equipment would be set along 360 feet of the riverbed and would diffuse the water from the treatment plant.
The two generators are being shut down because of new environmental regulations concerning coal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scheduled to take effect in April 2015. Dominion announced its intention in February to seek an extension to keep the coal-fired generators operating through 2016 as a proposed transmission line over the James River continues to work through regulatory hurdles.
The proposed pipe would run through Dominion’s power station property, across Waterview Road and across two more parcels owned by Dominion before reaching the banks of the York River. Besides the power station and nearby property owned by Plains All American Pipeline, the nearest developed parcel is a house situated about 1,100 feet away.
The main part of the underwater equipment would be buried beneath the river, HRSD General Manager Ted Henifin said at a February meeting of the York County Planning Commission. The treated water would be discharged into the river via 2-foot pipes sticking out of the bottom of the river. A narrative submitted by HRSD to the county says there could be up to 32 of the pipes jutting out of the riverbed.
If the pipe is not approved, HRSD would still have to find a way to discharge the treated water, Henifin said at the meeting.
“We’d have to find some other route, and it’s still going to be in the county,” Henifin said. “There’s really nowhere else for us to go.”
HRSD entered into an agreement with Dominion Virginia Power to use the canal in 1983 when the treatment plant opened, Henifin said. If the pipe is not approved, HRSD would be forced to try to negotiate a deal with Dominion to continue to use the canal. The lack of water from the power station would create a need for more advanced pumping equipment, a move Henifin said would be more expensive than the proposed pipe.
The planning commission voted 6-0 after their discussion at the February meeting to recommend the York County Board of Supervisors approve the pipe. The supervisors will consider the matter at Tuesday’s meeting.
HRSD is eyeing a design that would allow the treatment plant to expand in the future. The plant is currently approved to handle 15 million gallons per day. It handles an average of 12 million gallons per day at present, however the new design would allow for a peak discharge of 75 million gallons per day.
The project is scheduled to be in the design process from April to July. HRSD is then proposing a construction period that would run from July through January 2017. Crews would have to excavate a trench across Waterview Road to install the extended pipe, though HRSD has said the road would remain open to serve the three homes and the Plains All American Pipeline property on Waterview Road between the trench site and the end of the road, according to a memorandum from York County Administrator James McReynolds.
The supervisors will discuss the project at its meeting 6 p.m. Tuesday at York Hall. A public hearing will be included in their discussion for any members of the public who want to share their opinions about the proposed pipe.
