The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is taking comment on a draft permit submitted by the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority for additional water withdrawal for Crozet’s water supply.
“The permit will allow the applicant to upgrade and expand the existing water supply system through construction of a new water intake in the Beaver Creek Reservoir, a pumping station, spillway, principal spillway modifications, a permanent road crossing, and a raw water transmission main from the pumping station to the Crozet water treatment plant,” reads a public notice published in a recent edition of the Charlottesville Daily Progress.
The DEQ’s preliminary decision is to issue the permit which will affect a quarter acre of open water and 310 linear feet of a stream channel.
The comment period is open through December 19. According to the notice, an appointment can be made to inspect the documents. The public is asked to contact Kathy Dobbie with the DEQ at the Blue Ridge Office at 901 Russell Drive, Salem, Virginia 24153.
Or you can take a look at them online from the DEQ website.
“And if they receive no objections I assume that it will be implemented and that’s a 15-year permit,” said Bill Mawyer, RWSA executive director at the November 19, 2024 meeting.
Mawyer said part of the process is to determine what flows needs to be released downstream to preserve streams. He added that there is enough water for 20 years, but at some point there will need to be a study of whether the RWSA can meet Crozet’s needs for the last quarter of the century.
“We see this for Crozet as an adequate water supply beyond 2045 but before 2070,” Mawyer said. “In between those two days we’ll likely need additional water to serve Crozet.”
Mawyer said the RWSA conducts an inventory of the reservoirs every ten year, giving plenty of time for review.
According to the permit, the Beaver Creek Reservoir was built in 1963 and the water treatment plant was built in 1966. Ninety percent of the treated water is sold to the Albemarle County Service Authority, the entity responsible for the distribution lines to homes and businesses.
The RWSA conducted a demand analysis in 2019 that projected demand through 2075. An infrastructure plan was developed to accommodate a projected population of 16,279 people for 2075.
According to the permit request issued by RWSA, the agency cannot exceed 2.2 millions of gallons of water a day, 66 million gallons per month, or 420 million gallons per year.
The demand in 2019 was 0.513 million gallons per day. The analysis projects the average water withdrawal in 2075 at 1.65 million gallons per day with a maximum of 2.8 MGD.
There has been growth over the years with an average of 137.612 million gallons a year in 2007 growing to 261.754 in 2022.
Mawyer said the reservoir had been grandfathered in by the DEQ because it began drawing water before 1989. A permit is required now because the RWSA is asking to exceed previous usage limits.
Mawyer also said that the RWSA is going to apply to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a disaster relief grant to help cover the cost of fixing the pipeline that carries water from the Sugar Hollow Reservoir to the Ragged Mountain Reservoir. A section of the 18 inch pipeline that traveled over the Mechums River was washed out during Hurricane Helene.
Top photo credit: A depiction of the future infrastructure to be built at Beaver Creek Reservoir under the terms of the permit. Learn more at the RWSA’s page on the topic.
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