Water In Eastern Prince William County

There was a Town Hall meeting held at Jenkins Elementary School on Thursday, June 2nd  2022 about the changes planned in land us in the Comprehensive Plan Update and Amendments and what the impact will be on Prince William County. Below is my talk:

If you live in the eastern portion of Prince William County you should care very much about the fate of the Rural Crescent because the Rural Crescent is about water, your water. The public water supply in eastern Prince William (blue) comes from the Occoquan Reservoir. PWSA purchases 15 million gallons of water a day from Fairfax Water for you- it is all drawn from the Occoquan Reservoir. 

The Rural Crescent allows rain water to flow gently over vegetation, feed the aquifers that provide water to the private wells and the Evergreen water system, but also feeds the tributaries to Bull Run and the Occoquan River assuring the base flow to the rivers and streams that feed the Reservoir.

Development will impair the recharge of the groundwater aquifer, but also increase sediment and salt flow into the Occoquan Reservoir, reduce stream flow and deteriorate water quality while increasing demand for water to feed more homes, businesses and data centers.

Development increases impervious cover from roads, pavement and buildings does two things. It reduces the open area for rain and snow to seep into the ground and percolate into the groundwater and the impervious surfaces cause stormwater velocity to increase preventing water from having enough time to percolate into the earth, increasing storm flooding and preventing recharge of groundwater from occurring. According to the EPA groundwater recharge is reduced from 50% to about 15% and runoff increases from around 10% to 55%.

When generally open rural area is developed stormwater runoff increases in quantity and velocity washing away stream banks, flooding roads and buildings, carrying fertilizers, oil, grease, and road salt to the Occoquan Reservoir. The salt level in the Occoquan Reservoir is rising almost to the critical point, Fairfax Water says it will cost $1-$2 billion to build desalination treatment their plants.

Our future and our children’s future is our water. We can’t allow it to be destroyed by paving roads and building data centers, warehouses and housing developments that will produce windfall profits for the landowners while leaving us with the bill of one to two  billion dollars to remove the increasing salt level from the Occoquan Waters.