VIRGINIA BEACH — Bay Island, a serene and affluent residential neighborhood cradled by two offshoots of the Lynnhaven River, has long been a coveted place to live for hundreds of Virginia Beach families.

The island is known for its sweeping views, secluded atmosphere and easy boat access. But island life also comes with its downsides. Low-lying areas have been prone to flooding, and maintaining essential services, including stormwater and sewer infrastructure, require special care.

“We’re probably one of the most vulnerable neighborhoods,” said Cathy Maston, president of the Broad Bay Island Civic League.

In recent months, the island experienced two sewer-related issues that required the city to jump into action.

Last fall, a bypass pump at one of the island’s three sewage pump stations failed sending hundreds of gallons of raw, untreated sewage into the adjacent Broad Bay canal. It’s since been repaired, but concerns remain that another spill could happen and that containment efforts need to be improved.

And soon after the spill, a sinkhole formed on the island’s main road from work on an underground sanitary sewer pipe, adding to residents’ distress. The hole has been stabilized, but site conditions have prevented the problem from being fully resolved and more work needs to be done.

Councilman Stacy Cummings, who lives on Bay Island and represents the district, attended a Feb. 2 civic league meeting with city staff where the November sewage spill and sink hole were discussed. He believes the meeting helped quell some of the residents’ concerns and his own.

“I’m satisfied with what the city’s doing,” Cummings said in a recent interview. “Everybody’s at peace.”

The Virginian-Pilot requested and obtained records, documents and correspondence related to recent sewage spills on Bay Island to further understand the issue.

A unique setting

Bay Island sits between Broad Bay to the south and Long Creek to the north in the city’s Great Neck area. It’s 2 miles long and a quarter-mile wide.

The land is divided into Broad Bay Colony to the west and Bay Island to the east, but most residents refer to the whole area as Bay Island. It’s accessible by a bridge off of West Great Neck Road or by boat.

According to a historical account by the civic league, the island was originally connected to the Great Neck peninsula by a marsh, and the Chesapeake Native American tribe once occupied the area. In the early days, the road onto the island was mainly sand and clay. There were no streetlights or fire hydrants until the late 1950’s, and high water has always been a problem in the area.

Bay Island has roughly 400 homes including older brick ranches and palatial waterfront estates. Several homes in the area are currently listed for sale for more than $1 million. It’s among a handful of Virginia Beach neighborhoods that generate the city’s highest real estate tax revenue.

In the last 25 years, sanitary sewer overflows happened four times at pump station 272 , which was built in 1990 and is located at 2639 Broad Bay Road, according to city reports and correspondence.

Three of the overflows — in 2015, 2018 and 2025 — were associated with bypass pump failures. In 2009, a spill was due to significant storm flooding, power loss and accessibility issues, according to the city. The pump station was rehabilitated in 2020 to renew equipment and address prior odor concerns, city reports show. The November 2025 spill was the first documented overflow since the rehabilitation work.

Virginia Beach Public Utilities operates and maintains more than 400 sanitary sewer pump stations, which collect wastewater transported by sewer lines and pump it into a sewer force main. Sewer force mains are pressurized pipes that send wastewater from a sewer pump station to an HRSD wastewater treatment plant.

Sewage spill

At around 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 8, a pipe collar broke on a bypass pump at the Bay Island sewage pumping station.

According to the city, the station was operating under bypass “due to one of the station’s pumps being offline after becoming clogged with rags (i.e., “flushable” wipes).”

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality received a citizen report the next morning about sewage discharging onto private property and into the waters of Broad Bay, where oyster beds are located.

“Both fire and citizens reported actively flowing dark colored sewage over the bulkhead ‘like a waterfall’ and into the waterway,” Julie Laferriere, Virginia DEQ’s water compliance manager, wrote in a report.

The bypass pump hose that was temporarily in place to “support ongoing maintenance” failed, the city reported. Virginia Beach Public Utilities stated that the issue was a broken hookup hose, according to the DEQ report.

Sewage discharged on private property behind the station, and 875 gallons of it flowed into the adjacent canal and private boat basin, the DEQ report said. The spill was contained 90 minutes from the time that the city was notified. Clean-up efforts recovered 125 gallons.

For comparison, a toilet flush uses between one to several gallons of water, depending on its age and type.

The Virginia Department of Health closed a portion of Broad Bay to shellfish harvesting for 10 days following the release of untreated sewage. Broad Bay is a tidal tributary in the Lynnhaven River watershed, which connects to the Chesapeake Bay. It’s home to oyster reefs and is used by fishermen and recreational boaters.

Virginia DEQ closed the sewage spill incident report on Dec. 17 noting “no further pollution concerns at this time.”

Sinking road

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.

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.

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.

There are no sewage leaks associated with this sinkhole, according to the city.

“The issue still needs to be resolved,” said Maston.

Preventive measures

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.

The department has also specified the use of stronger discharge hose connections that use a bolted flange versus a quick lock.

“The department is confident these changes alone will greatly reduce the risk of future bypass pump hose failures and resulting sewage spills,” a city statement said.

The station is in a low-lying area and has a higher risk for impacts from localized flooding, the city’s Public Utilities Director Bob Montague wrote in a November letter. A bypass pump is routinely positioned at the station ahead of major storm events.

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.

“There is an obvious low area around the pump station, driveways, and northern part of the subject property whereby spilled sewage can collect,” says the report conducted by Charles Hall, a hydrogeologist with the engineering consultant firm MSA. “Once 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.”

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.

City officials who have reviewed the barrier recommendation say it’s impractical and would impede accessibility of large vehicles and equipment.

“Additionally, a barrier wouldn’t 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,” a city spokesperson said.

While the recent sewer issues continue to worry some Bay Island residents, many of them, including Maston, the civic league president, wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

She enjoys sitting on her porch and watching osprey swoop down over the water to pick up fish.

“That’s what we all love about Bay Island,” she said. “It’s a very unique place to live.”

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