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Last year the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality cited Blacksburg three times for illegal sewer overflows across town. But projects to rehabilitate the town's aging pump stations may prevent future citations.

Downtown residents mostly notice sewer overflows during rain storms when sewage backs up into houses and apartments or spills out of manholes. But those overflows often have not counted against the town because DEQ issues periodic amnesties for areas hit by such storms.

According to DEQ records, Blacksburg's violations have stemmed mostly from overflows at pump stations caused by mechanical and electrical failures. A citation in February 2004 stemmed mostly from 77,000 gallons of sewage that spilled out of stations.

But an ongoing rehabilitation project on which the town has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars is making some headway.

Several stations have been rehabbed in the past two years, and the town's largest pump station on Cedar Run will be overhauled this year, Planning and Engineering Director Adele Schirmer said.

Despite its citations, DEQ looks on Blacksburg as a "good player," Ford said.

Public Works Director Kelly Mattingly enforces a strict policy in his department requiring employees to report every overflow, no matter how small. That has built trust between the town and DEQ, Ford said.

"DEQ suspects that other municipalities aren't accurately reporting problems. But Blacksburg does what's required."

-- Tonia Moxley