The conversation about how Albemarle County and Charlottesville will get drinking water for the next 50 years — and at what cost — has heated up since an engineering firm hiked a cost estimate by tens of millions of dollars.

This week’s storms dumped 5.57 inches of rain in the Charlottesville area, the fifth-highest August total for a “single event” during 110 years of record-keeping at the McCormick Observatory, according to Jerry Stenger of the University of Virginia Climatology Office.

City councilors unanimously reiterated their endorsement of the local water supply plan Monday but added a major caveat that could yet have ramifications: the request for more study on the feasibility of dredging.

Critics of Charlottesville and Albemarle County’s long-term water supply plan have laid out specific proposals they believe will get the community more bang for its buck — both in terms of its pocketbook and the environment.