Local officials have long expected a feasibility study on dredging the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir to cost in the ballpark of $275,000, but the firm under consideration for the study is asking for $700,000.
Thomas L. Frederick Jr., the Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority’s executive director, said part of the reason that the amount is so much higher is because HDR Engineering of Omaha, Neb., is being asked for a very detailed report.
The figure came as a shock to members of the RWSA’s board of directors, who were told the news at a Tuesday meeting.
“That’s a big number,” said Judith Mueller, Charlottesville’s public works director.
HDR Engineering will also have to engage in extensive public discourse, which adds to the cost, particularly now that the question of whether to dredge the reservoir has generated one of the most contentious debates in the area.
An area committee earlier this month selected HDR Engineering to conduct the dredging study, but the RWSA board of directors will have the final say on whether to hire the firm and how much they’re willing to pay.
Area officials had called for a dredging study involving several components, including a bathymetric study, sediment analysis and examination of disposal sites, as well as an examination of the practicality and cost of a forebay to reduce the amount of sediment that will fill the reservoir in coming decades. Officials also are asking for an estimate of how much it would cost to dredge the reservoir.
The question of whether to dredge the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir has become a central issue in the ongoing debate over the 50-year water supply plan for Charlottesville and Albemarle County. The plan approved in 2006 calls for the replacement of the Ragged Mountain Reservoir dam with a higher structure, with water piped from the South Fork Reservoir to the Ragged Mountain Reservoir.
A previous $142.8 million cost estimate grew shaky after an engineering firm found fractured bedrock at the planned site of the new dam. Officials have since called for an examination of whether dredging should be incorporated into the water supply plan.
Critics of the approved plan have called for a new plan centered around the dredging of the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir.
In May 2008, a representative from dredging consulting firm Gahagan & Bryant Associates estimated that the firm could do a study for about $275,000. Though the firm did not detail exactly what would have been included in a $275,000 dredging study, some officials have clung to the figure for more than a year.
Frederick said RWSA officials would have to undergo negotiations with HDR to get the lowest price possible and the RWSA board of directors will have to weigh whether it’s worth getting a less detailed study for a lower cost.
A dredging study that meets all of local officials’ demands likely would cost far more than $275,000, Frederick said.
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