It took a September meeting of four boards—comprising representatives from the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, Charlottesville City Council, Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority and Albemarle County Service Authority—to formalize the myriad questions about the community water supply plan. According to a new letter from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), it may take another, larger meeting to resolve them.
While the DEQ is not a plumbing operation per se, Director David Paylor informed each of the four boards that department representatives are willing to help unclog the debate surrounding the community water supply plan—a city-county discussion likened by Mayor Dave Norris to "two squabbling children." Charlottesville Tomorrow has the story and a PDF copy of the letter from Paylor to board representatives (available here).
To organize the meeting, Paylor writes that each board should confirm desire for such a powwow and acknowledge that DEQ’s role "would be to (1) provide technical background information, and (2) facilitate and encourage constructive dialogue among community stakeholders." Additional components for the meeting, according to Paylor, should include presentations by board representatives and discussion of environmental issues and water demand projections. The latter comes with a parenthetical caveat: "Probably by individuals known to have expertise on the issues." Paylor requests that board representatives respond by December 14.
Last week, a member of an independent technical review team told the RWSA Board of Directors and member of the public that cost estimates proposed by Black & Veatch engineers for a dam built upon the existing Lower Ragged Mountain Dam structure could exceed initial estimates.