home to oyster reefs<\/a> and is used by fishermen and recreational boaters.<\/p>\nVirginia DEQ closed the sewage spill incident report on Dec. 17 noting \u201cno further pollution concerns at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TVP-L-NW-BROAD-BAY-ISLAND-SMK-002.jpg\")
The Broad Bay Island sewage pump station, obscured by shrubs and small trees, sits right along a canal, in which it has leaked. As seen Thursday, March 5, 2026. (Stephen M. Katz \/ The Virginian-Pilot)
\nSinking road<\/p>\n
Not long after the sewage spill, a sinkhole formed down the street from the pump station. Neighbors worried if the two events were related, but Cummings and city officials have said they are not.<\/p>\n
According to the city, public utilities is rehabilitating sanitary sewer pipes serving Bay Island. The work requires the sewer mains to be cleaned using pressurized water.<\/p>\n
When contractors cleaned a section of the sewer main 15 feet below ground and adjacent to 2624 Broad Bay Road, defects were exposed, which allowed groundwater to infiltrate the pipe, a city spokesperson wrote in an email. Those defects have been temporarily fixed, and the sinkhole has been filled and repaved, but a significant volume of groundwater in the area is hampering a full repair.<\/p>\n
There are no sewage leaks associated with this sinkhole, according to the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issue still needs to be resolved,\u201d said Maston.<\/p>\n
Preventive measures<\/p>\n
Public Utilities has discontinued the use of all bypass pump hoses from the manufacturer whose product failed in November at pump stations citywide. There had been one other incident involving a bypass hose from the manufacturer at a different pump station.<\/p>\n
The department has also specified the use of stronger discharge hose connections that use a bolted flange versus a quick lock.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe department is confident these changes alone will greatly reduce the risk of future bypass pump hose failures and resulting sewage spills,\u201d a city statement said.<\/p>\n
The station is in a low-lying area and has a higher risk for impacts from localized flooding, the city\u2019s Public Utilities Director Bob Montague wrote in a November letter. A bypass pump is routinely positioned at the station ahead of major storm events.<\/p>\n
An independent investigation of the pump station incident, commissioned by a Bay Island resident who was directly impacted by the spill, was completed in early January. The resident provided the report to The Virginian-Pilot but declined to be named out of concerns about property values.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is an obvious low area around the pump station, driveways, and northern part of the subject property whereby spilled sewage can collect,\u201d says the report conducted by Charles Hall, a hydrogeologist with the engineering consultant firm MSA. \u201cOnce sewage fills that low area, it is free to drain across the subject property, below the privacy fence, across a narrow strip of grass, and into the Broad Bay canal.\u201d<\/p>\n
MSA recommended the city construct a barrier around the pump station to retain and isolate spilled sewage from reaching lower-lying residential property and to delay it from reaching the Broad Bay canal.<\/p>\n
City officials who have reviewed the barrier recommendation say it\u2019s impractical and would impede accessibility of large vehicles and equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdditionally, a barrier wouldn\u2019t distinguish between wastewater and stormwater, so any rainfall received during bypass pumping operations, which can be in place for months at a time, would cause the pump station site to be flooded, further impacting accessibility,\u201d a\u00a0city spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
While the recent sewer issues continue to worry some Bay Island residents, many of them, including Maston, the civic league president, wouldn\u2019t want to live anywhere else.<\/p>\n
She enjoys sitting on her porch and watching osprey swoop down over the water to pick up fish.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what we all love about Bay Island,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very unique place to live.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5152, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VIRGINIA BEACH \u2014 Bay Island, a serene and affluent residential neighborhood cradled by two offshoots of the Lynnhaven…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[33839,192,2558,983,3,111,79,5148,12658],"class_list":["post-540979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-city-politics","tag-environment","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-science","tag-virginia","tag-virginia-beach"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}