Water authority hires firm to field questions

The Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority will pay a consulting firm up to $12,000 to answer questions from residents and come up with a presentation for the City Council on May 6.
The consulting firm, Gannett-Fleming, which has offices in Arlington and Fairfax, has consulted on Charlottesville and Albemarle County’s long-term water supply solution for several years. The solution officials adopted is to build a new, larger dam at Ragged Mountain and a pipeline from the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir at a price tag of $142 million. But critics say dredging the South Fork reservoir could be a better solution that doesn’t flood parkland or take down trees.
The firm’s estimates for dredging come in between $159 million and $178 million, with possible contingencies bringing the total to $223 million. Critics, in the form of members of Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan, have questioned those numbers and suggested that the consulting firm has unfairly tried to push aside dredging.
Reached by phone Monday, Aaron Keno, a Gannett-Fleming manager who has worked on the Charlottesville plan, said all questions must come through the RWSA. He did not comment further.
Thomas L. Frederick Jr., Rivanna’s executive director, said he has no reason to doubt the consultants who have worked for years with officials and residents to devise a plan. He cited 12 public meetings that have vetted the consultant’s work. He also said that the entire $12,000 wouldn’t necessarily be spent.
“I think the process has been fair,” Frederick said Monday.