A private sewage plant serving about 500 homes and businesses south of Springfield has failed and untreated raw sewage has been pumped into the James River. The Department of Natural Resources says the plant has been considered deficient for about ten years and now has failed.The city of Springfield plans to run sewer lines into the area, but won’t start construction for several weeks. Until then, it will repair and operate the sewage plant. The city will do that instead of paying fines to the state for sewage dumps from one of its own broken lines three years ago.