Solids from regional jail clogged sewer system, Stafford says 

New photos taken near the Rappahannock Regional Jail show what’s being flushed down the drain.

The Stafford County Government, responsible for maintaining the sewer system at the jail at 1745 Richmond Highway, says it found everything from food wrappers, all of which they say flowed into a pipe from the jail.

On October 6, the county’s public works division cited the jail, saying it violated its rules on what can be flushed down drains and toilets. “Solid or viscous substances in amounts which will obstruct the flow” are prohibited, Director of Utilities Chris Edwards penned in a letter to the jail.

Potomac Local News obtained a copy of that letter, which states the jail had until October 16 to devise a plan to clean up its act. Officials at the Rappahannock Regional Jail did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Conditions at the jail’s sewer system have gotten so bad since September 14 that officials said they have to pump the system each week. The pumping began after the debris started to clog a wastewater treatment plant on Coal Landing Road, about four miles from the jail.

County spokesman Andrew Spence says a grinder installed on the end of the sewer pipe, designed to crush more significant pieces of trash flushed from the jail into the sewer system, is working correctly but can’t keep up with demand.

Edwards says the photos above show the debris removed from the wastewater plant, each taken on separate days this year, and illustrate the continued large amount of debris flowing from the jail.

The Rappahannock Regional Jail houses about 1,300 inmates from four jurisdictions — Stafford, Spotsylvania, King George counties, and Fredericksburg, in a 374,000-square-foot facility. The jail serves about 4,200 meals a day.