In charming Front Royal, Virginia, a town known as the "Canoe Capital" of the state, sits Christendom College - a school with a beautiful, multimillion dollar new cathedral and sewage being hosed directly into the Shenandoah River by their staff.

For a school that charges students just over $45,000 a year, you’d think that Christendom College would have a wastewater treatment plant that didn’t require staff to frequently bucket poo out of their clarifier to keep “too much volume” from overwhelming their system. They conveniently left that detail out of the FAQ document issued in response to valid concerns about solids being washed into the Shenandoah River.

Christendom College has been inspected by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality 5 times since 2018 - each time receiving a Notice of Violation.

The last Notice of Violation was dated May 31st, 2024. The document shows average ammonia findings of more than 3 times the legal limit (8 times the legal limit in one instance) and also states "sludge solids were observed throughout the Shenandoah River, UT from the outfall to approximately 80 feet downstream where DEQ staff estimated the depth of solids to be 5 inches. Upon review of records, DEQ did not find notification of the discharge."

It gets worse from there. 

A Reconnaissance Inspection Report dated October 23rd, 2024 states the following: 

"Solids were observed throughout the entire reach of the UT (~390 feet). Solids were dark to light brown and floating on the surface of the stream. The solids accumulation within the stream averaged 2-4 inches thick.

Mr. Wynn asked Mr. Boyd how the solids were removed from the impacted area as described in the 24-hour notification. Mr. Boyd said the operator used a hose to wash the solids downstream from the outfall and no solids were physically removed from the stream."

The report also details how "too much volume" will overwhelm their system so that staff has to physically remove solids from the clarifier into buckets.

The current capacity of Christendom College’s system is 25,000 gallons per day. The Virginia Department of Health states proper onsite sewage should consider 75 gallons per day per full-time occupant. Christendom boasts housing for 400 students in their Residence Halls. They self-reported an average usage of 8,000 gallons per day between April 2024 and May 2025. Even if those extremely low numbers are somehow accurate, essentially, the system is failing and releasing solids when at only 30% of their capacity. What would happen if the plant were to reach full capacity? Say during a graduation event? I guess that’s where the buckets and hose come in handy.

The DEQ is currently negotiating a consent order with Christendom College. The purpose of this petition is to urge the DEQ to close negotiations and revoke Christendom's permit now. This problem has been ongoing for too long. Our families deserve better. Our wildlife deserves better.