Dear Friends, 

We were blessed with rain all through the summer. We noticed it because we did less watering than expected in July and August of the hundreds of native trees and shrubs we planted at our office on 45 Horner Street.

Our region is close to long-term averages for annual precipitation this year. Given the plentiful rainfall, stories about a shortage of drinking water seem odd. However, those stories are everywhere you look. For instance, in Fauquier County, water shortages from a combination of reduced ow and contamination in existing wells spurred negotiations for new wells in Marshall. Also, concerns about the availability of water were central to the debate over future development in Warrenton. Greene County is considering constructing, at considerable expense, a new storage reservoir for withdrawals from the Rapidan River. In addition, Loudoun Water is purchasing quarry sites along Goose Creek for future storage. On a state level, the debate over the Atlantic Coast Pipeline has become charged by the possibility that it could affect water supplies in Rockbridge County and Staunton.

We are concerned that long-term economic development and land use planning largely ignores increasing evidence of limits to local and regional water supplies. Frankly, Virginia and most localities have not taken the proactive steps needed to protect their sources of drinking water or to encourage conservation measures to reasonably reduce consumption. Some localities are planning in isolation and failing to incorporate water supply limitations, infrastructure costs and how to protect the quality of water sources into the future.

In 2004, PEC participated in a General Assembly mandated Task Force to provide guidance to localities tasked with evaluating long-term water supplies. We argued that in addition to estimating future demand and identifying future sources of water, localities should be required to evaluate the impact of current and future land uses on water supplies. Unfortunately, the Department of Environmental Quality would not support requiring a review of future land use plans.

Take Marshall, Virginia. Recent headlines have highlighted a shortage of available groundwater to meet current demand from residential and commercial customers. Developers of new properties are being required to demonstrate new sources of water supply in order to gain approval. Our Fauquier eld representative, Julie Bolthouse, presented preliminary analyses that suggest that the existing zoning within Marshall, if actually built out, would far exceed existing or planned supplies. Despite this, the long-term plans for Marshall do not address the need to secure additional water supplies, nor do they call for the implementation of water conservation measures in new development or to manage existing demand.

What is most troubling though, is the lack of action to prioritize the protection of existing water supplies. In Marshall, nearly half of the wells that provide the current water supply are located in areas zoned for commercial and industrial development. Therefore, it’s not surprising that industrial chemicals are being discovered in existing wells that are located next to businesses that used those products. Its encouraging that the County has taken rst steps to establish well-head protection areas, near all the wells in the current system, moving forward. However, the possibility the WSA will target areas outside of Marshall for new wells in the future is frustrating, given the lack of speci c policies to reduce consumption and to protect existing supplies.

What can you do? If you have well water, test it and learn what you can do to protect the groundwater you rely upon. If you drink water from the Town, take steps to conserve and reduce consumption and support policies to protect the existing water.

Now is the time to plan and protect the water we drink.

Sincerely,
Chris Miller, PEC