Projected Water Use at Monterey Church

If you recall, Monterey Church has requested a special use permit to build a church on a ±16.57-acre site zoned A-1, Agricultural. Development of the site is planned to ultimately hold a ±55,000-square-foot building with 900 seats and related paved parking. Because the land is in the Rural Crescent, the church will require a special use permit.

The site is located at 9514 Auburn Road and on the west side of Auburn Road, approximately 400 feet south of the intersection of Vint Hill Road and Auburn Road. The church proposes to cover more than 50% of the land area with buildings and parking for 380 cars.

The site is within the Rural Crescent of Prince William County. The Rural Crescent depends on groundwater as the sole water supply for all the existing and future residents, and Monterey Church will depend on an on-site well (or wells) for water supply and septic for sewage.

How any proposed land use will impact water and groundwater sustainability for the Church and their existing neighbors should be one of the first questions asked, but is not considered in the application for the special use permit. The right of existing property owners to their water is primary and valuable and should not be compromised or impaired. While groundwater is a renewable resource it is NOT unlimited.

from Soil Society of America.  Image created by LEARN NC, www.learnnc.org

Changing the use of the land, covering it with buildings, driveways, roads, walkway and other impervious surfaces will change the hydrology of the site reducing groundwater recharge in the surrounding area. It is estimated by the US EPA that groundwater recharge with that much groundcover will be reduced around 60%. Once the hydrology is destroyed by development, it cannot be easily restored, if at all. Martha Hendley posed some questions about the water use to the Planning Department  which remained unanswered:

“ 1.  What is the anticipated water use for a church that size?  If figures aren't available for a church on a well, might there be figures accessible for church properties of similar size on public water with a meter?

 2.  How does that volume of water usage compare with say, a 4-bedroom single family home?  Again, if there are no figures for wells, there should certainly be figures for public water.  Surely there must be average figures or at least ranges for both 1. and 2.

 3.  Perhaps a comparison could be calculated from another direction as well.  What comes in, must go out.  So what would be the capacity in gallons of the septic system required for a church of that size?    And how would that compare with a 4-bedroom single-family house?”

Martha never got  answers to her questions. However, if she had asked me, I would have told her there are lots of statistics on typical water consumption. The typical American family uses 300 gallons of water a day, but the home that would have been built on this lot would have be larger than typical, but unlike places like Arizona, Florida etc. rural Virginia has much less outdoor use of water. According to US Geological Survey water consumption data the typical Virginia well owner per person consumption is 68 gallons per day. (In Virginia the typical well owner does not water their lawn, though commercial properties and Churches do.) According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) the typical large building assembly water usage (this excludes schools with athletic fields) translates to 3,000-4,000 gallons per day for a 55,000 square foot Church. https://www.eia.gov/consumption/commercial/reports/2012/water/

Thus, it would be safe to say the water usage would be about 10 times the use of a single family (large luxury) home. The water available at this site will be diminished by the building of the church. Changing the use of the land, covering it with buildings, driveways, roads, walkway and other impervious surfaces will change the hydrology of the site reducing groundwater recharge on site and in the surrounding area. It is estimated that groundwater recharge will be reduced around 60% based on USGS data. Over time the groundwater recharges less, but the Church continue to use water. Water usage and availability need to be considered for the special use permit.