Stand Against Pollution: Revoke Christendom College’s Wastewater Permits

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has finally issued a consent order to Christendom College in regard to its wastewater treatment plant. The attached document details repeated violations of their permit over the last few years – violations ranging from ammonia levels far exceeding legal limits to multiple instances of solids being released into their unnamed tributary (a creek that directly flows into the Shenandoah River).

Don’t get me wrong, this report also details a significant amount of improvements that Christendom has completed in order to prevent permit violations, and that’s great.

However, now I’m even more concerned.

You’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on repairs and new equipment, but your plant is still failing regularly? And in multiple instances, your staff admits to not knowing that there were solids standing in the unnamed tributary? Let’s also not forget the DEQ inspection report where Christendom staff admitted to cleaning up the solids by hosing them into the river.

It appears that one of Christendom College’s many issues is that it employs Inboden Environmental Services (IES) to monitor and operate its plant. While the school is ultimately responsible for any permit violations, IES seems to be failing them just as frequently and significantly as their plant fails.

Now, I know that this 16 page report is a long read, so I’ll highlight and summarize a few items here:

• Page 4, Item 17: There are 7 instances of the College exceeding legal discharge limitations. The two highest exceedances are January 2024, which shows ammonia discharge at 3.5 times the legal limit, and April 2024, which shows ammonia discharge at 8 times the legal limit.
• Page 4, Item 18: trash and rags clogged part of their system, leading to an overflow.
• Page 5, Item 19 A-E: 80 feet of dark brown solids estimated at approximately 5 inches deep were found in the unnamed tributary (a creek flowing directly into the Shenandoah River).
• Page 7, Item 29 A-C: 390 feet of solids ranging from 2-4 inches in depth were found in the unnamed tributary (a creek flowing directly into the Shenandoah River). The operator stated that a hose was used to wash solids downstream.
•  Page 10, Section D, Item 2: The College must pay a civil fine of $16,916.38.

So. Many. Questions. Aren’t they supposed to be monitoring their system daily? At least that’s what they said when they issued their statement back in January, right? How long did it take for enough trash and rags to collect to create a clog? How did no one notice an accumulation? How is it possible that a 400-foot creek collected solids on multiple occasions with no one noticing? I mean, how long does it even take for 390 feet of solids to accumulate? How many other times did no one check to see if solids were just sitting there washing into the river? How is a roughly $17K fine anywhere close enough to acceptable with the amount of damage caused to the river? And so on.

Right now, the DEQ is accepting written public comments from October 6, 2025, to November 5, 2025, regarding the consent order. I urge you to take the time to voice your concerns. Email Francesca Wright at Francesca.Wright@deq.virginia.gov, or send mail to 4411 Early Rd, Harrisonburg, VA 22801.

We also have an active petition circulating to revoke Christendom College’s wastewater treatment plant permits until their system is guaranteed to be fully functioning at full capacity, that the capacity is large enough to withstand the demands of their growing campus size (including large events), and that their staff is capable of daily monitoring of their plant. Sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/RevokeThePermits.

Samantha Ruibal
Warren County, VA

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