Fairfax County is making headway in its push for the land rights needed to allow construction of a new sewer line in western Tysons.
In the past month, county staff have secured deals for five additional properties west of Route 7 (Leesburg Pike), Tajera DeSena, a senior right of way agent for the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES), told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday (Feb. 18).
However, another five parcels still need to be acquired, leading staff to propose the use of eminent domain to keep the project on track. The Board of Supervisors approved the request unanimously.
“I want to thank the members of the community, the property owners that have been working with staff on this very, very important infrastructure project,” Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn said before the vote. “I’m hopeful all these will be worked out in the coming days and weeks, and this authority will not have to be exercised, but [county staff have] been doing a great job working with the community. Let’s keep that going.”
According to a staff report, land rights to 19 properties total were needed for a 36-inch-wide force main pipeline to carry wastewater from a new pump station that’s currently under construction at 8608 Leesburg Pike, to a treatment plant in Lorton.
Previously called the Noman M. Cole, Jr. Pollution Control Plant, the Lorton facility was officially renamed earlier this month as the Noman M. Cole, Jr. Water Recycling Facility to “more accurately” describe its function and present “a more positive side of the clean water mission,” according to DPWES.
Expected to start construction this fall, the force main will extend approximately 3 miles from Tysons, around the Town of Vienna to Hunter Mill Road, ultimately connecting with an existing Accotink sewer line at Route 123.
That pipe and the pump station, which will be able to process 25 million gallons of water per day, are part of a larger project to upgrade and expand the wastewater system in Tysons.
According to DeSena, wastewater in Tysons is currently conveyed by a Potomac Interceptor to DC Water’s Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant. However, that system lacks the capacity to support the 100,000 residents and additional development that Fairfax County hopes to see in Tysons by 2050, and it can’t be expanded.
“To solve this, wastewater from the D.C. Blue Plains sewer shed needs to be redirected to the county’s Noman Cole sewer shed, which has additional capacity,” DeSena said. “New development occupancy permits [in Tysons] can’t be issued until there’s enough capacity in the wastewater collection system.”
In addition to the force main and pump station, the Tysons West wastewater enhancements include a 24-inch-wide gravity sewer pipeline that will be approximately three miles long and transport water from individual properties to the pump station.
Construction on the pump station began in November 2024, but the gravity sewer and force main components are still in design. Work on the project as a whole is expected to finish in summer 2028 and cost an estimated $110 million, all of it paid for by sewer service and connection fees.
The county is also looking at building a new pump station in Tysons East, but the project was delayed last fall after community members objected, arguing that there hadn’t been enough outreach.
In an update posted to the project page on Dec. 16, 2024, DPWES said it’s investigating “additional alternatives” to the proposed site at 1310 Scotts Run Road in McLean, which would’ve required the county to take over a house.
“Administrative issues to accommodate this activity are currently underway,” the department said.
