Boards agree on water reviews

Several local officials said after a joint meeting Tuesday that their mission was accomplished: getting Albemarle County and Charlottesville officials heading in the same direction on the area’s long-term water supply plan.

Officials confirmed a plan to hire experts to review the cost of replacing the Ragged Mountain Dam, after the cost estimate more than doubled from an initial $37 million estimate, after an engineering firm discovered fractured bedrock where the dam’s foundation would be built.

Officials also agreed to hire an engineering firm to review the cost estimate and feasibility of constructing a pipeline that would transport water from the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir for storage at the Ragged Mountain Reservoir. They agreed to the pipeline study on the condition that it wouldn’t cost more than $25,000.

Members of the Charlottesville City Council, the Board of Supervisors and the boards of directors for the Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority and the Albemarle County Service Authority were present at the meeting.

County Supervisor Dennis S. Rooker said that he was pleased that in a two-and-a-half-hour meeting the city and the county could find themselves on the same page about where to go next with the 50-year water supply plan.

Rooker had asked that the county meet with city officials, after the city approved a resolution calling for a review of major components of the water supply plan.

The water supply plan has received increased criticism since the dam estimate drastically was hiked. The entire water supply plan had initially been estimated to cost $142.8 million. Former City Councilor Kevin Lynch, now a vocal critic of the plan, estimates that the entire water supply plan will cost more than $190 million, and likely closer to $250 million.

Rooker said that additional studies that officials agreed to conduct won’t slow down the implementation of the current water supply plan but will generate more needed information. Reviewing the cost and feasibility of a pipeline connecting the South Fork Reservoir and the Ragged Mountain Reservoir was insisted upon by Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris, who said that, in light of the increased cost estimate of the dam, officials should make sure the pipeline isn’t three or four times more expensive than they’d originally thought.

The pipeline has been estimated to cost $56 million.

“We have the time to get some better information,” Norris said, explaining that the review of the pipeline can be done simultaneously with a review of the cost and feasibility of building the Ragged Mountain Dam.

While they won’t be able to guarantee an exact cost before beginning the project, he said, they should at least know enough to be able to assure the public that the pipeline concept is sound — a sentiment shared by Rooker.

“Ragged Mountain will not fill itself up,” Rooker said after the meeting, adding that it was essential to make sure they had a solid understanding of how much the pipeline would cost and re-examine its feasibility.

Officials also agreed to seek a study on the cost and feasibility of dredging the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, if a task force recommends dredging as a means of maintaining the reservoir.

County officials had expressed skepticism about whether some of the studies the City Council had called for in its resolution would slow progress on implementing the water supply plan.

Norris, who was the most vocal city official at the meeting, insisted that the studies could be done concurrently with review of the dam.

Several officials questioned Norris’ view that an increase in available water from dredging, conservation and a re-examination of water supply needs should be figured in the water supply plan. Officials never reached a consensus about what roles those variables should play in the water supply plan.

Supervisor David L. Slutzky said that pushing for more water conservation is something that all of the local officials would support, but if the majority of City Council members want to “hold up” the current water supply plan while calculating conservation, “that’s a whole different can of worms,” and a proposal that he doesn’t think Albemarle County would support.

Norris said the city wasn’t trying to hold up the water supply plan. He said that conservation measures, and reviewing major components of the water supply plan could be done in step with a study on the cost and feasibility of work on the dam.

Mike Gaffney, chairman of the Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority Board of Directors said after the meeting that he doesn’t care what route officials take in formulating a water supply plan as long as the county and the city are able to reach a consensus.

“My goal is to get the city and the county to agree on something,” Gaffney said. “I don’t care what it is.”

Gaffney said the meeting was a step in the right direction.