Work Underway at James River Wastewater Treatment Plant

As lead consultant for HRSD’s Sustainable Water Initiative for Tomorrow (SWIFT) recharge and monitoring well services project, Earth Data Incorporated is currently providing design services and Construction Administration (CA) and Construction Inspection (CI) services for 10 new Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) wells at the James River Wastewater Treatment Plant in Newport News, VA. This is the first of what is expected to be more than 60 deep, large-diameter MAR wells that will ultimately recharge the Potomac Aquifer with up to 100 million gallons per day (mgd) of SWIFT Water®—wastewater treated to meet drinking water standards and be compatible with the characteristics of the aquifer. Construction at James River is expected to run through mid-2025.  

SWIFT is HRSD’s innovative water treatment project designed to protect the region’s environment, enhance the sustainability of the region’s long-term groundwater supply and help address environmental pressures such as Chesapeake Bay restoration, relative sea level rise, and saltwater intrusion. SWIFT takes highly treated water that would otherwise be discharged into the Elizabeth, James, or York rivers and applies multiple advanced water treatment processes, which results in SWIFT WaterWater®. The SWIFT Water® is then added to the Potomac Aquifer, which is the primary source of groundwater throughout eastern Virginia. 

The SWIFT MAR project is one of the largest drilling projects in the United States; it is expected to last more than 12 years. Earth Data and its civil engineering partner Kimley-Horn are currently working on the design for the next project, which includes approximately 18 new deep, large-diameter MAR wells that will be drilled in the vicinity of HRSD’s Nansemond Wastewater Treatment Plant. Work on that project is expected to begin in mid-2024. Each of the new Nansemond MAR wells will be designed to inject as much as 2.5 mgd of highly treated wastewater. Future MAR well projects are also planned for HRSD’s York River, VIP, and Williamsburg Treatment Plant sites.