Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority, partnering with the City of Charlottesville and the Albemarle County Service Authority, is preparing to upgrade the Meadow Creek Interceptor, a large-diameter sewer pipe serving the eastern part of the City of Charlottesville and the urban ring of Albemarle County. Through working together, the parties have established realistic goals to meet the environmental needs of the community, while upgrading the aging infrastructure that is crucial to reliable, uninterrupted sewer services.
In a consolidated strategy by the Authority, City, and County, the main goals for the Meadow Creek Interceptor upgrade are environmental ones, in both preserving and elevating the quality of the area’s water resources, and restoring Meadow Creek back to its natural pattern. By working together, the parties will negate the need for the City and County to spend millions of dollars on separate, possibly conflicting, projects, and will decrease the amount of rainwater spilling into sewer systems, which is then burdensome for the pipes, detrimental to the environment, and costly to everyone.
The existing Meadow Creek system is more susceptible to breakage due to its age and undersized capacity, which in turn necessitates costly repairs. Due to the urbanization of the areas surrounding Meadow Creek, the character of the stream has changed, which causes erosion around the pipes and unsightly conditions to residents. Additionally, there has been increasing storm water infiltration, which stresses already maxed-out pipes, and creates the need to chemically and physically treat rainwater the same as sewage, adding to costs, use of chemicals, and additional nutrient discharge back into the environment.
