Approved water plan best suits region

By Dennis Rooker
Published: June 22, 2008

Recently there has been much criticism about the community water supply plan that has been approved by Charlottesville, Albe-marle County, the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority and the Albemarle County Service Author-ity, to expand the Ragged Moun-tain Reservoir by raising the dam height and helping fill it with water pumped from the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir. Many of those opinions are based upon a conclusion that the approved plan should be replaced by dredging the South Rivanna.

I have been a proponent of maintenance (or perhaps more complete) dredging of the reservoir from the beginning of the water-supply discussion. After hundreds of hours of discussions, investigations and meetings, I supported the approved water supply plan for the following reasons:

After a vast amount of public input, the plan was supported by a large majority of the public, the four public bodies and every environmental organization in the area. 

Obtaining approval for a significant water-supply increase from 10 state and federal agencies is a massive undertaking. We now have a plan that has obtained approval from regulators. There is a huge value in this for the community.

Years ago the community thought that building a reservoir at Buck Mountain would be approved, but it wasn’t. The property was purchased (including a number of condemnations). Then the Environ-mental Protection Agency changed its view on building new impoundments and an endangered species was discovered in Buck Mountain Creek.

There is a perception that any combination of options other than the current plan can be strung together to create an approvable plan. That is not the case. Any plan would have to go through the same process we just went through, and there is no guarantee that it would ever be approved (as in the Buck Mountain example). Also, it is unlikely that another plan would emerge that would obtain the community support that the current plan has. 

To the regulators, the competitor for the Ragged Mountain plan was a pipeline to the James, not dredging.

Final approval of a plan gives us a right to build the component parts; it does not require it. The permit gives us 15 years to build out the plan. This doesn’t preclude maintenance or other dredging if we obtain an acceptable proposal and the required permits are obtained. 

Complete dredging of the South Rivanna Reservoir would provide about 5.5 million gallons of the 9.9 millions of additional safe yield needed over the next 50 years. We would still need to either expand Ragged Mountain or build a pipeline to the James to make up the difference.

There is a directive in place requiring that the Ragged Mountain dam be replaced by no later than 2011 for safety reasons.

Critics of the approved plan often cite its cost without pointing out that 60 percent of that cost is for necessary maintenance or replacement of existing facilities.

Complete dredging of South Rivanna would enable the Ragged Mountain dam to be raised by 30 feet instead of 45 feet, but the savings would only be about $7 million less than the $37.2 million necessary to raise it to 45 feet.

Dredging is not a one-time cost. If we completely dredged South Rivanna in the next five years, it might lose all or most of that new capacity over the next 50 years as it continues to silt in. Accordingly, it is not realistic to count on 5.5 million of additional safe yield 40-50 years from now for a one-time cost of dredging.

Because Ragged Mountain has such a tiny watershed, it is unlikely to ever silt in.

The approved plan allows us to obtain our water supply from sources within our area, as opposed to relying on the James River, which receives significant contaminants from Lynchburg and other upstream communities. It also allows almost normal flow to be restored to the Moormans River, which is now significantly restricted and impaired.

Any water-supply expansion plan that is approved will require environmental mitigation. The current plan more than mitigates the environmental impacts as measured by the state and federal agencies.

I do support a feasibility study of dredging and/or obtaining dredging proposals, because I think it is important to maintain the health and capacity of our existing infrastructure. Also, the approved plan includes using South Fork’s capacity to help fill Ragged Mountain, so it is important to maintain that capacity.

The Ragged Mountain dams were built more than 100 years ago. Thank goodness our forefathers had the foresight to incur the cost of those capital improvements, which have served us so well for so long. What are we going to leave our great, great grandchildren?

Dennis Rooker is Albemarle County is supervisor for the Jack Jouett District.