LYNCHBURG, Va. – A $300 million project in Lynchburg is almost finished.
In 11 days, the city will finish constructing a new precast concrete tank to help regulate and treat its combined sewer and overflow system.
Since 1979, Lynchburg has been working to fix the system.
Before the program, every year, they were pumping more than a billion gallons of raw sewage into the James River.
In the end, officials say 93% of the overflow should be gone.
"It's dramatically reduced. It won’t eliminate it entirely but once we're done the river will meet water quality standard. So it's safe for fishing, swimming and boating, and that type of thing,” Tim Mitchell, director of water resources, said.
City leaders will finish the project in five years.