Public comment period underway for changes to water supply planning 

Legislation that passed the General Assembly in 2020 directed the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to require regional cooperation in the preparation of plans to ensure enough communities have enough drinking water. 

Now a public comment period is open for new rules. This closes on October 9 and then the rule immediately goes into effect. (view the item)

“Regional planning enables localities and other water users to assess water sources in the context of their shared use with others in their watershed or region,” reads the background document on the topic available on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall. (read the document) (view the item)

This could have the effect of putting Albemarle and Charlottesville in the same planning area as Greene County, Fluvanna County, Louisa County, as well as Buckingham County. There are 26 suggested areas in all, with this community being in the Middle James River 1 planning area.

The potential change was addressed at the August 27, 2024 meeting of the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority, an agency currently updating water withdrawal permits for its urban system. (read a recent story)

At the same time, Fluvanna County and Louisa County are participating in the James River Water Authority’s project to bring water from the James River to Zion Crossroads. Ground was broken for that effort in August as you can learn in a press release on the Louisa website.

Greene County has a community water supply adopted in 2008 that involves creation of a new reservoir at White Run. Now the locality faces challenges about how to cover the costs to build the infrastructure. I last wrote about this in October 2023 and am overdue for an update. (read the plan)

The new regulations also provide a mechanism for localities to argue they should be in a different planning area. 

Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment is from the September 13, 2024 edition of the newsletter. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.