State tells localities to plan for water needs

By REX SPRINGSTON
Media General News Service
Published: June 3, 2008

Like many people, Nicole Earley doesn’t think a lot about her drinking water. As long as it comes out of the faucet and tastes good, she said, she’s happy.

“I just leave it to the experts” to worry about the future of our water, said Earley, 34, of Richmond.

The experts are starting to worry.

For the first time, the state is requiring localities to submit plans for providing public water in coming decades. The idea is to help the localities prepare better for drought and growth.

A major inspiration for the change was the brutal 1999-2002 drought. In 2002 alone, parts of Virginia’s Piedmont and Southside nearly ran out of water, and more than 6,000 wells failed.

Statewide conservation, and fall rains, staved off catastrophe.

“But that doesn’t mean we couldn’t have an even longer, more pronounced drought,“ said George Hornberger, a University of Virginia hydrologist.

“That’s why I really like the fact that Virginia is making the localities at least come up with some plans” for the future.

Virginia’s population, now about 7.7 million, is projected to grow to 9.8 million by 2030. That means more demand for water.

“It’s not too far into the future when water is going to be the limiting factor for growth,“ said Scott Kudlas, water resources director for the state Department of Environmental Quality.

The 2003 General Assembly, at the request of then-Gov. Mark R. Warner, required localities to compile the water plans.

Plans from the largest locales, including Richmond, are due at the DEQ this November. Smaller ones will submit plans in November 2010, and regional plans are due a year later.

In an example of regional efforts, Henrico, Cumberland and Powhatan counties are working together to develop a reservoir. To the south, Chesterfield is working with Tri-Cities localities as part of the Appomattox River Water Authority.

State officials will go over the plans to iron out potential conflicts, such as a desire for a reservoir in the wrong place, or a locality’s effort to use too much water.

By resolving problems early, state officials hope to avoid—or at least, ratchet down—controversies such as Newport News’ two-decade effort to build a 1,500-acre reservoir in King William County.

In that case, still under way, supporters say the water is needed to serve a growing Peninsula. Opponents say the reservoir would destroy valuable wetlands and trample on the rights of nearby American Indians.

Coastal regions face a challenge because many rivers are salty, and some groundwater is becoming so. To the west of Richmond, most streams are smaller, generally making them vulnerable to drought.

Underground problem

Many people and businesses east of I-95 get their water from wells, largely because it has been so plentiful.

But now the demand for groundwater appears to be approaching the supply. From eastern Hanover County to Hampton Roads, you need a DEQ permit to take more than 300,000 gallons a month.

The time will come—probably in years, not decades—when an industry wanting to come to Virginia says it needs a few million gallons of groundwater a day, and the state will have to say no, said Roger D. Burnley, a former DEQ director.

The state still issues groundwater permits, but it is checking applications more closely, said Lawrence A. Dame, New Kent County’s public utilities director.

All of New Kent’s water, either for county water systems or for private use, currently comes from groundwater. But the county is looking for other sources.

Options under study include buying water from Richmond, Newport News or Henrico or taking water from the Pamunkey River, Dame said.

Water is vital to the county’s economic well-being, he said. “If we don’t have the water, [businesses and others] are not going to come to New Kent.“

Long-range solutions

Even in places where water is tough to obtain, there are options, experts say. They include conservation, purifying salty water and re-using water that has been flushed.

A few places, including Chesapeake and James City County, use reverse-osmosis plants to purify brackish water. The systems remove salt and other impurities by forcing the water through filterlike membranes.

Water re-use means providing industries and others—in cases where no one would be drinking the water—with treated wastewater.

For example, Dominion Virginia Power recently began using about 2 million gallons a day of wastewater from a Chesterfield sewage plant to run new pollution controls at a power plant near Chester.

Burnley, a part-time environmental adviser to businesses and governments, deals with a lot of European clients.

“They are just incredulous when you tell them that we take water out of a river, treat it to drinking water standards, and then use it to flush our toilets, fight fires, water the lawns and clean the parking lot,“ Burnley said.

L. Preston Bryant Jr., Virginia’ secretary of natural resources, said, “Local governments should be requiring major new residential developments to design closed-loop stormwater systems, where the stormwater is captured, stored and then reused for irrigation, sidewalk-cleaning, and other such non-potable uses.“

Awash in water?

A little perspective: Virginia gets about 40 inches of rainfall a year. Yuma, Ariz., gets about 3.

“If it doesn’t rain for two months in Yuma, that’s called an average summer,“ said Jerry Stenger, research coordinator for the University of Virginia’s climatology office. “In Virginia, we’d call that a drought of astonishing proportions.“

So, overall, Virginia has plenty of water. “But it’s not always in the right place,“ Burnley said.

For example, in the 1980s a growing Virginia Beach proposed a pipeline to pump water from Lake Gaston, more than 70 miles to the west. Opposition from North Carolina and others stalled the pipeline for more than a decade, but it opened in 1997.

Virginia localities don’t go to the expense and effort to build water systems that will withstand any drought without some conservation. Planned water-saving measures, such as limiting car-washing and lawn watering, suffice during most dry periods.

Drought last summer and fall prompted many localities, including those in the Richmond area, to require residents to conserve water. The restrictions were lifted following winter rains. Experts say drought could reappear this summer unless the state gets widespread rainfall.

As for the more-distant future, U.Va.‘s Hornberger said, “With the right planning, Virginia should have adequate water supplies for its population.“

Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or

Staff writer Wesley P. Hester contributed to this report.