Fairfax City outlines outfall-restoration work tied to Chesapeake Bay credits

Satoshi Ito, Public Works Program Manager for Fairfax City, described a combined infrastructure project to encase a sanitary sewer line in concrete and restore two eroded stormwater outfalls that discharge from Bluecoat Drive into a tributary of Accotink Creek. The work — presented as coordinated to use shared access points — is intended to reduce channel erosion that increases sediment transport and the movement of nitrogen and phosphorus downstream.

Ito explained that reductions in sediment and nutrient discharge are quantified and converted into pounds-per-year pollutant-reduction credits under the Chesapeake Bay regulatory framework and the city's municipal stormwater permit. He said some tree and brush removal is required during construction but that a landscaping plan is built into the project to replant disturbed areas.

City staff framed the outfall projects as cost-effective compared with larger stream-restoration efforts and said combining the sewer encasement with outfall work minimizes disturbance while protecting infrastructure; they noted that protecting sanitary crossings reduces the risk of sewage discharges to waterways if a sewer line were to fail.

The presentation described project locations (Old Robin Street cul-de-sac and Bluecoat Drive outfall) and the environmental purpose of the work. No formal action or vote was recorded; staff said the project is proceeding through standard public-works planning and permitting.