A committee’s decision Wednesday has left two firms battling over which should be hired to study the feasibility of dredging the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir.
Interviews will likely be held late this month or in early August.
In May, officials agreed to submit a request for proposals for a dredging study. Though many firms submitted proposals, members of the dredging committee agreed that two firms appeared to be most qualified: HDR Engineering Inc. of Omaha and F.X. Browne of Lansdale, Pa.
Committee members only took minutes to determine the two firms to interview.
However, a debate erupted about how much of the interview process should be seen by the public. The committee ultimately decided, by a 6-2 vote, to have the two firms give public presentations stating why they are most suited for the job, with committee members following up with some questions in the public setting.
However, committee members decided to ask additional questions, in closed meetings, and discuss which firm to recommend the Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority should endorse.
Committee members struggled with how much of the process should be conducted publicly, with the cited advantage of more openness bringing public transparency and accountability, but disadvantages being that some confidential information would be discussed. There was also concern expressed that the committee members and firms would be less blunt because the public would be watching.
It’s been estimated that a full-scale feasibility study could cost more than $250,000. However, the firms would have to estimate how much a dredging study would cost before being hired.
The question of whether to dredge the reservoir has evolved into a central issue in the ongoing debate over the region’s 50-year water supply plan.
Local governing bodies approved the water supply plan in 2006. It calls for the replacement of a dam at Ragged Mountain Reservoir with a higher dam, and would pipe water from the South Fork reservoir to Ragged Mountain for water storage. Dredging, however, is not mentioned in the original plan.
A previous $142.8 million cost estimate for the water supply plan grew shaky after an engineering firm found fractured bedrock at the proposed site of the new dam. Critics have said the price tag could climb to more than $200 million, but RWSA officials still haven’t established a new cost estimate.
Critics of the approved plan say that a new plan, in which dredging is the centerpiece, could be less expensive. But proponents say that alternative was debated and decided against long ago.
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