Overdue report still unfinished

Nearly two weeks past deadline, a task force charged with mapping out the future of the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir was still scrambling late Monday to put together its final report, placing today’s planned approval of the document in peril.

The group had intended to hold its final meeting tonight. But it was uncertain Monday evening whether the task force was ready — or would even meet.

“It’s being worked on in about three different directions at this point,” task force Chairwoman Sally H. Thomas said, adding that the draft report was still “a work in progress.”

The group had been asked to report to Charlottesville and Albemarle County officials by December.

Thomas, an Albemarle County supervisor and member of the League of Women Voters, sent the most recent draft of the task force report to group members Thursday.

The draft aims to detail benefits of dredging the South Fork reservoir. Rowers and boaters were identified as possible losers if dredging is left undone, because sediment is causing travel lanes to become increasingly narrow.

“Continued sedimentation of the reservoir presents potential risk to at least competitive rowing,” the draft states.

The report also notes the aesthetic value of the reservoir but states that it’s debatable whether dredging would add to the waterway’s visual appeal.

The 24-page draft reiterates that the task force was not charged with assessing the area’s approved water-supply plan. It states that the current plan, which was approved in 2006, takes into account a decline in the reservoir’s storage capacity.

“There is no need to expend additional public funds to conduct maintenance dredging of the reservoir solely for the purpose of providing additional water storage capacity,” the draft states.

The costs of dredging are unknown, with estimates in the last few years ranging from $25 million, for one-time dredging, to $223 million, for long-term sediment removal. Several key players have dismissed the $223 million figure as vastly inflated.

Task force member Dede Smith, who represents Citizens for a Sustain-able Water Plan, called Thursday’s draft “discouraging.” She said that the group worked hard to come to a consensus, but the report doesn’t reflect that consensus.

Smith said that she’d like to know who wrote the draft. She said that her time and that of other members was wasted because revisions were made without the knowledge of the entire group. Any suggestions should have been sent to everyone, she said, adding that the task force was simply used as a tool to promote the approved water supply plan.

Thomas, however, said that the revisions aren’t final, and that they came from input from the group.

“There have been five of us who’ve actively worked on the draft,” Thomas said. “And most task force members have had their input on it somewhere along the way.”

One benefit of dredging, the draft states, is that it would provide a water-storage safety net while the long-term plan is being carried out. However, the draft states that funds would be better spent hurrying construction of the plan than conducting maintenance dredging.

The draft also states that Charlottesville and Albemarle officials will have to make the final decision about whether to seek proposals for “opportunistic dredging,” which was defined in an earlier draft as “dredging sediment from specific, defined, critical areas at the least cost” to accomplish water storage and recreation objectives.

Mitch King and Mark Fendig, who represent Blue Ridge Sand Inc., said at a task force meeting in December that if the sediment in the reservoir is valuable, the material could be sold, and the group could actually make a profit from dredging. However, they said that if officials have a tight deadline for dredging, then the costs would be much higher.

Thomas said Monday that she doesn’t suspect task force members will make major changes to the draft report. Instead, she said, the group likely will have to determine which parts to emphasize.

Task force member Ridge Schuyler, the former director of The Nature Conservancy’s Piedmont Program, said Monday that he thinks the group has “actually reached a consensus,” and now it’s just trying to clearly and accurately spell out that consensus.

Schuyler said the group was not charged with revisiting the approved water supply plan, adding that there hasn’t been any dispute about whether the approved plan will supply enough water for the next 50 years. The plan would pipe water from the South Fork reservoir to the Ragged Mountain reservoir after a higher dam has been built at Ragged Mountain.

Thomas remained uncertain late Monday whether the task force would meet tonight. “I still believe we’ll have a meeting tomorrow, but I’m also the person who thought we finished up in December,” she said.