Water costs raise concern

Opponents of the Ragged Mountain dam expansion have said for months that the dam was too expensive.

Now members of the Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority agree. They have fired the engineering firm that last year hit the agency with a cost estimate more than double its original projection.

But officials and opponents still don’t agree on the future of water supply for the Charlottesville-Albemarle area.

Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan has contended for months that dredging the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir is a more economical and ecologically sound approach. The group has consistently challenged the cost estimates provided by the engineering and consulting firm Gannett Fleming.

So insistent were they that local leaders eventually decided to call in a second group of consultants to review the design work on the dam.

Then last week the RWSA announced it was terminating its association with Gannett Fleming.

Last year, the dam’s designers said they discovered unexpected bedrock problems at the site, requiring a solution that more than doubled their original cost projection of $37 million.

It was this work that the recently convened panel of experts reviewed, coming to the conclusion that the dam could be constructed for less money without compromising safety.

RWSA officials have said that the consultants did not put a dollar figure on these changes, but did provide specific recommendations.

Indeed, news that the dam project won’t be as expensive as previously thought would seem to deflate the CSWP’s contention that dredging the Rivanna is better than raising the dam. The financial contrast between the two projects would seem to be lessened.

But there remains a vital question:

Gannett Fleming also provided the original estimates for the cost of dredging. If its revised figures for dam expansion were at fault, could its original figures for dredging also be inflated?

CSWP has contended from the beginning that these numbers were wrong.

Meanwhile, the RWSA says it doesn’t know how much money it will lose by getting rid of Gannett Fleming and finding a new engineering firm. Some of the work already done will of course be transferable, but officials don’t know how much. They say they will compile and release those figures to the public when they have the information.

Whatever the loss incurred from switching contractors, it will eat into the savings gained from finding the most cost-effective ways to expand the dam.

Loss of confidence in Gannett Fleming has not shaken the RWSA’s confidence that dam expansion is the best solution for the area’s long-term water supply.
It remains to be seen whether area taxpayers will lose confidence in the RWSA.