U.S. Water News Online
WASHINGTON -- A regional commission is beginning a long-term study of northern Virginia's water supply, analyzing everything from future demand to contingency plans for droughts and shortages.
The analysis by the Northern Virginia Regional Commission is scheduled to be finished in 2011, and it will help determine whether there will be enough water in three decades to meet residential and commercial demands in the booming Washington suburbs.
"It is beneficial to everybody," said Doug Pickford, the commission's director of environmental programs. "Having a good idea of whether we have a future water supply is certainly a no-brainer, but this also forces everybody to take a good, hard look at water resources."
The Virginia legislature mandated the analysis following severe drought conditions in the region from 1999 to 2002.
The study, which includes regional utilities and 23 localities as participants, will look at conditions of water resources, projected supply and demand, and the area's two major water sources: the Potomac River and the Occoquan Reservoir. It will also consider groundwater resources for wells in rural sections of Loudoun and Prince William counties.
Although the study is limited to northern Virginia, the results should help Maryland and the District of Columbia, because they also depend on the Potomac River for water supply, Pickford said. The Potomac supplies most of the Washington area's water.
Demand for water in the Washington area averages about 490 million gallons a day, according to Norm Goulet, the commission's senior environmental planner. A 2005 study by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments forecast demand of about 572 million gallons a day by 2025.
Barbara A. Favola, an Arlington County Board member who chairs the regional commission, said the information gathered for the study will be critical for planning a response to droughts, population and commercial growth and potential disasters.
"It is also significant that the entire region has come together on this project rather than developing individual plans," Favola said.
The study's $420,000 tab will be paid by participating commission members. Each jurisdiction will have a public hearing on the study and formally approve its participation.
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