The RWSA is currently acting on plans to build a pipeline from the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, just north of Charlottesville, to the Ragged Mountain Reservoir southwest of the city. So far, the idea has received applause from RWSA engineers as well as government regulators. The plan also seems to be a middle path between environmental and business groups that have squared off over how to expand the supply.

The idea has also united two groups that have been at odds throughout the planning process —the Piedmont Environmental Council and the developer-friendly Free Enterprise Forum. Environmentalists didn’t want the RWSA to pull water from outside the local area, while developers wanted a plan that satisfied those 50-year demand projections.

Why should the Free Enterprise Forum (calling it pro-developer is a much too narrow description of this local think tank) be the only ones calling for sufficient planning? Is planning for the future really something that should be noted with such negative connotations? This is how I read the above quote. Maybe I am reading too much into it.

The best part of the story in this week’s C-Ville –

Gilges chuckles at the idea that the solution came from the public instead of big-bucks consultants. “The RWSA has been getting bad advice for years,” he says.
Frederick, though, says this is an example of planning gone right. “It points to the success of our public outreach,” Frederick says. “We work better when the public is involved.” (Bolding mine) Absolutely.

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