Some trails have reopened at Ragged Mountain Natural Area

Albemarle County and Charlottesville approved a Community Water Supply plan in early 2012 that called for construction of a new dam at Ragged Mountain Reservoir, an increase in that waterway’s volume, and construction of a pipeline to connect it with the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir.

The new dam was completed in 2014 but the other two projects were deferred to help the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority spread out the capital costs across a longer period of time.

Faulconer Construction has been working on a project to clear land to allow for the raising of the Ragged Mountain Reservoir’s pool by 12 feet adding 700 million gallons of storage capacity. The scheduled date to begin the fill is January 1, 2027 and will allow a maximum capacity of 2.1 billion gallons.

As a result, many trails in the natural area have been closed while trees and other vegetation were removed. Some additional trails on the eastern side of the reservoir have been reopened this month.

For more details, take a look at the release which has a history of the fill project and other aspects of the community water supply plan.

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