Eco-City Clean Waterways is the City's initiative to manage the quality of our local streams, the Potomac River, and the Chesapeake Bay. Because good stewardship of our local waterways yields many public health, ecological, and recreational benefits, it is one of the guiding principles of our Eco-City Alexandria Charter and a priority for the City under the Eco-City Alexandria initiative.
Eco-City Clean Waterways affirms the City's commitment to promoting and protecting clean waterways for current and future generations of Alexandria residents by operating and maintaining two types of sewer systems, which discharge to our waterways through permitted outfalls for combined sewage, stormwater, and treated sanitary sewage.
Stormwater Management
Stormwater runoff occurs when rain or snowmelt flows over the ground. Hard surfaces, like roofs, driveways, parking lots, and streets prevent stormwater from naturally soaking into the ground. If not managed properly, stormwater runoff can create stormwater pollution and/or flooding issues.
Green Infrastructure
In line with the City’s Eco-City Clean Waterways initiative, Green Infrastructure (GI) is an approach to reduce pollution in stormwater runoff. A few examples of GI include bioretention filters and rain gardens, permeable pavements, and tree boxes. Many of these features can be used along existing urban streets and sidewalks.
Sanitary Infrastructure
The Sanitary Infrastructure Division implements the City’s Sanitary Sewer Master Plan and is responsible for planning level engineering related to sanitary sewer capital projects throughout the City.
One Water Partnership
Initiated in 2018, One Water Alexandria is a partnership between the three water entities that serve the City of Alexandria: Virginia American Water, who provides drinking water; the City of Alexandria, who owns the sanitary and storm sewer infrastructure; and Alexandria Renew Enterprises (AlexRenew), who owns the water resource recovery facility, interceptors, pump stations, and combined sewer outfalls. RiverRenew is the program owned and implemented by AlexRenew, with support from the City of Alexandria, to reduce combined sewer system overflows in Old Town, Alexandria. RiverRenew is a solution to address Alexandria’s combined sewer overflows (CSOs) in order to meet legislation to improve water quality in Hooffs Run, Hunting Creek and the Potomac River. The legislation requires that CSOs from all combined sewer outfalls in the City be addressed by July 1, 2026.