Pump Station | ALXnow

After NPS pump station denial, City Council advances alternate waterfront flood mitigation system

Published June 15, 2026 at 3:45PM

Sandbags outside a business on lower King Street (staff photo by James Cullum)

With minimal discussion on Saturday (June 13), Alexandria City Council voted to move forward with an “enhanced gravity storm sewer system” to combat flooding along the waterfront in Old Town.

The City Council action was taken four months after the National Park Service denied the city’s plan to build a pump station at Waterfront Park (1 Prince Street). The city’s previously approved proposal would have closed Waterfront Park and Point Lumley Park from the fall of 2026 until the fall of 2028 to rebuild segments of the sea wall and to install the pump station to recirculate water in flood-prone areas back to the Potomac River. The denial by NPS forced the city to make “significant modifications” to the plan, project manager Matt Landis told Council.

New plan unveiled after National Park Service sinks pump station at Waterfront Park

By James Cullum

Published March 25, 2026 at 2:45PM

Flooding on lower King Street in Old Town (staff photo by James Cullum)

Alexandria City Council directed staff on Tuesday to pursue a new preferred option to combat flooding along the Alexandria waterfront — one that does not involve a pump station.

City staff presented the council with a number of options in the wake of the National Park Service’s denial last month of the city’s plan to build a pump station at Waterfront Park. The city’s preferred option, Option 3, is an enhanced gravity storm sewer system, with “automated back flow prevention devices.” Option 3 also means that infrastructure improvements to Point Lumley Park and the bulkhead would be deferred.

Waterfront group proposes moving pump station to 1 Prince Street as city seeks design input

By Ryan Belmore

Published September 18, 2025 at 10:11AM | Updated September 18, 2025 at 12:59PM

AWA presentation slide showing aerial view with pump station relocated to 1 Prince Street (Screenshot of Alexandria Waterfront Alliance presentation)

The Alexandria Waterfront Alliance proposed moving Alexandria’s controversial flood mitigation pump station from Waterfront Park to the long-vacant building at 1 Prince St., according to presentation materials from Tuesday’s Waterfront Commission meeting.

The unsolicited presentation to the Waterfront Commission included detailed architectural renderings showing how the pump facility could be integrated into the existing structure while creating space above for a maritime museum, education center or commercial development. The group argued the location would preserve the park while utilizing the building’s existing deep foundation piles.