It looks like the City of Charlottesville has cobbled together a new water plan.
Our community’s penchant, proclivity and expertise towards developing plans and studies is unparalleled. Enacting said plans always presents the insurmountable challenge.
I could make at least two arguments:
1 – The City Council has once again demonstrated their collective inability to stick to a plan that was hammered out over many years and was a good plan.
2 – Congratulations to City Council for being flexible, relatively nimble and for listening to the people
This much is known – we need water, and it’s not an infinite supply and Charlottesville and Albemarle aren’t alone – Fluvanna and Louisa have been talking about water for some time..
As it turned out, the number of dredge supporters topped dredge opponents by a ratio of two to one. And the dam supporters had some pretty big guns: the Chamber of Commerce, the aforementioned former Supervisor, the League of Women Voters, and the Nature Conservancy, the enviro-group credited with devising the dam/pipeline plan.
For a sampling …
Charlottesville City Council has unanimously approved a revised community water supply plan proposal that emphasizes phased construction of a new or refurbished Ragged Mountain Dam (with an initial water level height increase of 13 feet and a larger foundation that would support up to a 42 foot increase in water level), extensive and ongoing dredging of the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, a new pipeline connecting Ragged Mountain to South Fork, and aggressive water conservation efforts. The public hearing had 59 speakers and lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes.
If you don’t understand where we are or how we got here, you’re not alone. See Charlottesville Tomorrow for background. A warning: it’s long.**
City Council will take their new water plan proposal to meeting of the “Four Boards” on Tuesday Sept 21st with Albemarle, RWSA, & ACSA
Getting one board to agree to something took at least five years. Four should be a piece of cake.
If you’re a glutton, watch last night’s City Council meeting.
** If you’re so inclined, you can “like” Charlottesville Tomorrow on Facebook. They’re worth a click. 🙂