A cut in state funds for Richmond’s to meet a state deadline to clean the James River is worrying Mayor Levar Stoney. He fears it will mean bigger water bills for people who already pay some of the highest bills in the state.
There’s not as much flowing through the big sewer pipe running under the streets of Manchester that once hosted aluminum foil and tobacco processing plants. That’s part of the answer to Richmond’s multi-decade challenge to clean up what flows into the James River. It s an answer that could cut millions from what was looking like a $1 billion-plus bill.
Virginia will help Richmond with the city’s billion-plus dollar effort to keep heavy rains from pushing sewage into the James River even though the General Assembly s budget dropped $100 million that had been set for the work, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said.
In the rush to end this year’s state budget impasse, General Assembly negotiators dropped a $100 million promise to help fund Richmond’s 34-year effort to make sure heavy rains don’t overwhelm its sewers and start carrying sewage into the James River.