Portsmouth officials outline roughly $1.9 billion in water and sewer needs; urge grants, loans and rate study

Mister Wright, presenting for the City of Portsmouth’s public utilities/engineering group, told the City Council at a work session that the city’s water and sanitary‑sewer systems are largely aged, that regulatory changes have increased near‑term requirements and that cumulative capital and rehabilitation needs total roughly $1.9 billion.

The shortfall matters because the systems supply drinking water, support emergency fire flows, and carry sewage to regional treatment. Wright told council the city sources treated water from Suffolk reservoirs and that “more than two thirds of the pipes in our distribution system are fully depreciated and considered to be beyond their useful life.” He warned new dam‑safety and treatment regulations and a consent order on sanitary‑sewer overflows add urgent compliance costs.

Wright gave specifics: Portsmouth draws most water from four Suffolk reservoirs (Lake Mead, Lake Cahoon, Lake Kilby and Space Run); Lake Mead and Lake Cahoon together provide about 74% of intake. The city maintains five dams tied to those supplies; DCR’s new dam‑safety rules and additional inspection requirements mean engineering and rehabilitation work that Wright estimated “exceeds $100,000,000.”

He described an older transmission‑main network that brings treated water into Portsmouth: approximately 18 miles of interlinked mains, including cast iron pipes dating to the 1890s and concrete and ductile‑iron mains installed in the mid‑20th century. Wright said the city averages roughly 20 joint repairs on transmission mains each year and that, since 2016, just under $17 million has been spent on major transmission‑main repairs outside routine joint work. Near‑term projects include a Prentiss Street transmission main replacement ($25 million), a CSX‑triggered relocation with a city share near $9 million, and other segments and lining projects totaling tens of millions.

On treatment and plants, Wright noted a 2023 filter upgrade at Lake Kilby cost just over $43 million and included a new administration and filter complex, UV conversion and SCADA upgrades. He also described drinking‑water well rehabilitations and a planned replacement for the oldest well to meet groundwater permit requirements.

On distribution and regulation, staff reported operations respond to about 116 main breaks and roughly 214 leaks annually. The federal Lead and Copper Rule, Wright said, requires the city to identify and replace lead and galvanized service lines on the public and private sides up to the building foundation; Portsmouth provided an inventory to the Virginia Department of Health in October and mailed notices to affected addresses. Wright said line replacement cost estimates “right now exceed $50,000,000.”

Sewer system needs were described as large and immediate. Portsmouth owns and operates 65 sanitary‑sewer pump stations; Wright said 11 stations are rated good, 23 fair, 21 poor and 10 have failed components (some on bypass). Average sanitary‑sewer rehabilitation work, Wright said, costs about $850,000 per station; he listed 12 pump stations that are under rehabilitation or planned for bidding. A city study dividing Portsmouth into 63 sewer basins found 16 basins exceed a risk threshold; replacement cost for those 16 basins was reported at about $1.5 billion.

Wright also highlighted the vacuum‑assisted sewer network, more than 70 years old in places and serving downtown and midtown areas, as “the most problematic part of our collection system,” saying it affects roughly one‑third of the city and is nearing or beyond useful life.

On regional compliance, Wright said Portsmouth and other Hampton Roads localities that send sewage to the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) are under consent order with EPA and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to reduce sanitary‑sewer overflows; HRSD is developing a regional wet‑weather management plan with local input and has funding set aside to address some collection‑system deficiencies.

Asked about next steps and how to pay for the work, Wright and City Manager Mister Carter told council staff will continue to aggressively pursue external funding, update the 2017 rate study to model sustainable CIP funding levels, and scale projects to balance affordability and impact. Wright said the city’s pre‑application to the Core Water Infrastructure Financing Program (CWIFP) advanced to the application stage and would position Portsmouth to seek a potential $101 million loan; the city will continue to pursue BRIC, dam‑safety and other grant opportunities. Carter added repayment of loan proceeds would be accounted for in the utilities’ enterprise fund debt service, not the general fund.

“We need to update the rate study and determine the appropriate CIP funding levels,” Wright said. Carter added, “We have learned from that mistake… We will do the maintenance that’s required as we upgrade and do things around our city.”

Staff told council a near‑term implementation approach should include (1) continuing to pursue grants and loans, (2) updating financial modeling and rates, (3) targeting smaller, high‑impact neighborhood projects while larger studies finish, and (4) executing at least one transmission‑main project and three to five pump‑station rehabilitations each year.

Council members pressed staff about preventive maintenance and how to avoid repeating past deferred‑maintenance cycles. Wright and operations staff said an asset dashboard and station assessments are in place for pump stations and that crews and contractors are increasing work to address backlogs; they cautioned many projects require coordination with railroads, Suffolk, HRSD and other agencies and will have multi‑year construction schedules.

Next steps identified by staff: submit the CWIFP full application this summer, complete a vacuum‑assisted‑sewer evaluation to identify spot projects, finish the rate‑study update and continue coordinated grant applications. Those steps will inform specific CIP requests during the budget cycle.