PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Nearly a month after a sewer main break sent millions of gallons of raw sewage into a Portsmouth neighborhood and nearby waterway, cleanup continues on Douglas Avenue.
But some neighbors who live along Hull Creek said they still have questions about the water quality and when they will feel comfortable using it again.
For Christa Ponce, one of the biggest changes since the spill has been losing access to the waterfront she once enjoyed.
“There's no way that we're going to pull our kayak or anything out there,” Ponce said. “No, I don't feel safe and satisfied with the explanation so far.”
The Hampton Roads Sanitation District said a 30-inch pipe installed in 1943 failed Aug. 4, causing about 3.1 million gallons of raw sewage to spill onto Douglas Avenue and into Hull Creek.
See previous coverage: Two weeks after 3.1M-gallon sewage spill, Portsmouth neighbors worry about property values and Hull Creek
At low tide, neighbors said they are still concerned about what they see in the water.
Ponce said she appreciates the work HRSD has done to repair the road but is frustrated over uncertainty about who is responsible for cleaning the water.
“Stop ping ponging around, who's going to come clean this up?” Ponce said. “It should not be us or at our expense because we didn't do this.”
HRSD environmental scientist Michael Echevarria said there is not yet a set plan to treat the water. He said HRSD is collecting samples weekly while the agency, the Elizabeth River Project and a subcontractor determine next steps based on water sample results, sediment and how neighbors use the waterway.
Scott Graves, who also lives off Douglas Avenue, said neighbors have not been part of those conversations.
“Unfortunately we haven't been included or involved in those conversations,” Graves said.
News 3 was there as HRSD collected sediment samples from Graves' dock on Aug. 11. Graves said initial results found a variety of contaminants, adding to his concerns about using the water.
“Noravirus, adinavirus, obviously human fecal markers,” Graves said. “Ultimately for now we still can't use our dock.”
Meanwhile, HRSD said work to restore the area affected by the break is continuing.
See previous coverage: 40 feet of pipe must be replaced after Douglas Avenue sewage spill in Portsmouth
Crews worked Tuesday to replace curbs and gutters, and HRSD said it expects to repave the area where the main broke in about three weeks.
Shawn Heselton, HRSD's director of interceptor operations for the South Shore, said the agency wants to restore the properties affected by the failure.
“We're literally in the right people's front yards, backyards, and such, and we want to make sure that something as unfortunate as this happening, we make them whole,” Heselton said. “We make sure that they are back to their normal way of life as it was prior to the actual failure.”
The pipe replacement also gave HRSD an opportunity to assess pipe near the section that failed.
“Looking at the pipe south, we did find areas of moderate corrosion,” Heselton said. “Now we put a rough time frame how long of useful life we have. It's roughly right around 10 years of useful life left.”
Heselton said the finding is prompting HRSD to reconsider whether to extend a project already planned for pipe south of the break.
He said HRSD also performs preventative maintenance throughout its system, including maintaining air vents and valves.
“The preventative maintenance piece is really a lot of my staff going out and operating and maintaining the system by bleeding air out of the air vents and then turning the valves just to make sure that they work,” Heselton said.
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