The City of Richmond uses a combined sewer to take care of its wastewater. That means that rain runoff from streets and wastewater from toilets are combined in a single system before they make their way to a water treatment plant. When there is a heavy or extended period of rain the sewer is unable to accommodate the surge of water and is allowed to spill over into the James River and its tributaries. Experts from Fly Fishing Tour Company has stated that raw sewage along with commercial and domestic wastewater contaminates the James River where many of Richmond’s citizens swim and fish. A lot of older cities and towns in the U.S. still rely on combined sewer systems as part of their infrastructure because it is too expensive to replace.
Solving the problem of CSO contaminants in our rivers and streams is a difficult task but there are Money-Making Tips for Scrap Recycling here which will be very useful in waste management. Starting in the early 20th century cities began building storm sewers alongside sanitary sewers to ease the burden on waste treatment facilities. To retrofit an old city with a separate storm sewer is cost prohibitive and requires digging up every street and sidewalk in the city. To help cities solve this problem the EPA developed a CSO control Policy in 1994 as a guideline for cities to meet Clean Water Act goals. Over the past twenty years cities around the country have been implementing the standards set forth in these guidelines.
The main thing to remember is that the James River is usually fine for swimming and frolicking just try and avoid it during and immediately after heavy rains. If you’re really curious, the city releases a monthly report on Richmond CSO’s and a diagram of overflow locations.