St. Katherine Drexel

 In 2015 St. Katherine Drexel Parish and School requested and obtained a special use permit to build a church with a 1,000 seat sanctuary and 550 seat fellowship hall and classrooms for 260 children in K-8th grades, administrative offices, rectory, meeting areas for community groups and related facilities on a 28 acre parcel of land on the north west corner of Waterfall Road and Route 15 across from the 7/11. Because the land is in the Rural Crescent, the St. Katherine required a special use permit.

The project was proposed and approved as using a private well and a septic system, despite the fact that at the time the Health District did not believe that the site could support a septic system adequate to service the Church and School.  Now, the Catholic Diocese of Arlington in the person of the Brian Prater of the law firm of Walsh, Colucci, Lubeley Walsh has requested an amendment to the special use permit to allow St. Katherine Derexel Church and School to connect to the public sewer system and if necessary connect to the public water supply.

In his presentation to the Planning Commission Mr. Pratter stated that the soils on site would not support a traditional septic system and that an alternative on-site sewage system would probably fail. Nothing has changed since the original application. The USGS characterization of the soils in this area date back more than 30 years. In 2015 I pointed out at the public meeting at the Evergreen Firehouse that the soils on site were a mix of hydrogeologic group B and C and at the time the health district believed that on-site septic system would be problematic. In 2015 the representative of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington assured the those attending that community meeting that they were very experience at overcoming these type of challenges. Yet, here we are.

The soils underlying the site have not changed it is still group B and C which both underly the western part of Prince William County. B consists of sedimentary rocks of the Culpeper Basin. The predominant rock types are conglomerates, sandstones, siltstones, shales, and argillaceous limestones. Rocks within hydrogeologic group B tend to have moderate to excellent water-bearing potential because it is a fractured rock system with very little overburden very poor for septic. Hydrogeologic group C is interspersed throughout the area of groups B and consists of igneous rocks (basalt and diabase) of the Culpeper Basin. The predominant rock types are basalt, sandstone, siltstone, diabase, hornfels, and granofels. Rocks within hydrogeologic group C tend to have generally poor water-bearing potential because of the wide spacing between fractures, mineralization of fractures, and random fracture orientations. In other words, unless you hit a good fracture, you are likely to have a dry well and these wells tend to become mineralized and loose flow over time.

Mr. Prater lead the PW Planning Commission to believe that “the applicant” has recently discovered the issues with the on-stie soils. That is not true. In 2015 they knew the soils were not appropriate for a traditional septic system, the question is when did they stop knowing. The proposed church and school will cover over 20% of the land with buildings, parking, walkway and other impervious surfaces that will change the hydrology of the site reducing ground water recharge in the area around the school at the same time that the school and church will increase groundwater use to an estimated 12,500 gallons a day (3-4 million gallons a year) according to the Pacific Institute. That is equivalent to building around 50 homes on the 28 acres. With reduced groundwater recharge in the immediate area of the school from all the paving, there is a real possibility that the pumping from the school will create a large cone of depression to draw water from adjacent properties or greater depth that could cause nearby existing wells to go dry, and people will have homes without water –worthless. 

The plan may well have been to buy inexpensive land that could not be connected to the public water and sewage, get a special use permit making assurances that they have the septic and well issues handled. Wait seven years until consultants, staff and the planning commission turn over then appeal for an amendment to the special use permit because the site is unsuitable for septic and might need public water. For penitence the Catholic Diocese of Arlington should fund a community septic and well repair fund. There is a need for such a fund in Prince William County, a quarter of a million should do.