Water quantity a concern in Town of Appomattox

By Sarah Watson

Published: August 30, 2008

Questions have been raised in recent years about the amount of water available for Town of Appomattox customers through its aging municipal well system, which has been stressed by drought and over-pumping.

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Following the 2002 drought, the state mandated that all localities compile a water supply plan projecting needs 30 to 50 years in the future. Region 2000’s plan now is under review by the localities involved.

Preliminary results based on current needs and growth patterns show the wells will be sufficient for the town’s water supply until about 2050, said Draper Aden environmental manager Mike Lawless.

“That’s based on their current wells continuing to be able to perform. They know very likely they’ll have to do something before 2050, but that’s tied more to water quality than water quantity.”

Water quality issues are related to a Department of Environmental Quality consent order for the town to lower copper levels in the discharge from one wastewater treatment plant, a problem officials say likely is caused by the water’s natural acidity corroding pipes.

But while options — connecting to a different public water source, building a reservoir or even creating a stream intake — are clear, cutting through the politics is another story.

The most-discussed option, a proposal to build a water pipeline along U.S. 460, connecting the town with Campbell County’s utility authority, is a divisive issue among town residents. While the concept of a regional public water connection has been floated for years, including a possible direct connect with Lynchburg, questions about construction costs, ownership and other impacts often have flooded out any resolution.

The water line proposal as currently presented would fuel “cancerous growth and urban sprawl,” former Mayor John Wilson said in an April interview. “You have more people, you have to school more children. You also have to add more services, so you have to generate taxes somewhere.”

The debate intensified as Campbell County began construction earlier this year on a pipeline between Rustburg and Concord along Virginia 24. Campbell County supervisors also approved an extension of the Virginia 24 line to U.S. 460 that would loop to the west, serving customers in the Concord and Lexington Park areas.

“We want this thing to move on, regardless of what the town of Appomattox decides to do,” Concord District Supervisor Eddie Gunter said during the October meeting when supervisors approved the extension.

Further fueling the town’s debate has been recent attention from state agencies warning officials about quantity concerns with existing wells.

In October, the state health department sent a letter to the town urging officials to take immediate steps to conserve water and address concerns that levels in town wells were dropping quickly.

The letter also requested alternative water source plans from the town in the event of the well system’s failure.

“(VDH is) not dictating or directing you to do one option over another,” Town Manager David Garrett told council in October. “They’re saying we need to get busy to do something to protect the citizens in the event of an emergency.”

“If it’s buying bottled water and sitting it at the doorsteps of citizens, then that’s fine. They just want to know,” he said.

Shortly after the VDH warning, the town imposed voluntary water restrictions, which remain in place.

Wilson, a strong opponent of the proposal and whose car has a “No Water Line” sticker, often has tried to stymie debate on the topic, in public meetings or private e-mails to political allies on council.

In October, two council members abruptly ended a meeting by taking off their microphones and walking out after Wilson refused to stop debate on a motion creating a task force to look into the costs and feasibility of the project. The move was shot down two weeks later in a split vote with Wilson breaking the tie.

In February, Wilson sent an e-mail to council members Jennifer Jamerson-Scruggs, John T. “Plicky” Williams and now-former council member Steve Lawson urging them to introduce a motion to “dismiss all discussion of a joint waterline project for one year or indefinitely, that the motion cannot be rescinded except by unanimous council vote.”

The final scheduled meeting of Wilson’s term in June was postponed because Jamerson-Scruggs, Williams and Lawson, who was out of town on business, were absent.

Wilson wrote Williams that his “absence from the workshop was a great service to the town. Both you and Jennifer were right not to be there. Steve was also right to call me and warn that he would not be present. Attendance is important, but not nearly as important as what you get done on behalf of the citizens, whether you attend or not.”

While water levels dropped significantly last fall after a long, dry summer, well levels so far this year have dropped by only a few feet, which is in line with normal seasonal variations, Garrett said.

The difference this year, Garrett said, is 2007’s dry season started in May and went through much of the fall and early winter. This summer, rain, while still below average, fell consistently in Appomattox until the past six weeks.

The town sold an average 208,000 gallons per day in July, down from 218,000 gallons per day a year ago. “People are listening” to the water restrictions, Garrett said.

Surface water is more immediately impacted by rain than groundwater because it takes time for drops to filter through the soil and rock into the water table.

In Appomattox, Garrett said it takes about three months to see any impact from a major rain so it’s possible the water levels will drop further in October and November.

Most Appomattox County residents get their water from private sources, other than about 160 customers who purchase water from the town.

County Administrator Aileen Ferguson wrote the town in November with a Board of Supervisors’ offer to pay 75 percent of the bill for construction of the water line.

Town Council countered in April that the county should pay 100 percent of the bill, give the town full ownership and consider a “friendly boundary line adjustment” that would significantly expand the town’s limits. The county responded in May, offering to pay 100 percent of the construction costs, own and operate the line and sell the town water at a metered rate.

Town Council has been in closed-session discussions about the proposal since July.

“I think in order to come to any consensus, we’re going to have to sit down with the Board of Supervisors to see what we can work out,” said councilman and utility committee member Jimmy Mayberry. “If you don’t meet with them and discuss it, how do you know whether you can do it or can’t?”