The long-term community water supply plan has received its final necessary approval: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today sent the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority (RWSA) a 10-year permit to expand the Ragged Mountain Reservoir with a new dam. The timing—coming the day after City Council voted to reaffirm its support for the plan—is coincidental, according to RWSA’s Executive Director Tom Frederick.
RWSA Board Chairman Mike Gaffney expressed extreme pleasure in a press release. “Local citizens have been talking about the need for expanded water supply for about 30 years, yet not until this moment have we had the complete approval of both the federal and state governments to move forward with actually building the infrastructure we need,” said Gaffney.
Army Corps approval means that RWSA can go forward with construction of a new, 45’ taller dam, which would increase usable storage at Ragged Mountain from 464 million gallons to 2.19 billion gallons. The new dam must be in place before June 2011 to meet a state deadline to replace the current dam, which regulators say could fail in the event of a catastrophic rainfall.
Local officials and involved citizens have suggested phasing the new dam height, possible building only 30’ higher initially. But Frederick says that RWSA will proceed with plans for the full dam unless directed otherwise. Engineering work is currently underway only for the dam base, but the window to chose the initial height will close in the coming months, says Frederick.
Read previous C-VILLE stories for more details on the water supply plan and the controversy surrounding it.
