The Rural Crescent Was about Water

The update to the Comprehensive Plan, Pathway to 2040 does us no favors. It sacrificed the sustainability and quality of our water resources for greenfield development and growth through sprawl. Removing the protected Rural Crescent from the Prince William County comprehensive plan and allowing for higher density sprawling suburban development, even with green infrastructure (GI), will over time likely result in impairment to our water resources that provide the fresh source water for the Occoquan Reservoir. 

The Rural Crescent, established in 1998, acted as a crucial urban growth boundary, protecting an extensive area of undeveloped farmland and forests. Its primary functions, which are vital for the county's water supply, include: 

• Watershed protection: It covered most of the Prince William County’s 40% of the Occoquan Watershed, a key source of public drinking water for a large portion of Northern Virginia.
• Groundwater recharge: The large amount of open, pervious land allowed rainwater to slowly infiltrate the ground, replenishing the aquifers that supply wells for the western part of the county and providing base flow to the streams and creeks that come together to form Bull Run and the Occoquan River.
• Pollutant filtration: The natural landscape's vegetation and soil effectively filtered pollutants before they enter local streams and the Occoquan Reservoir. 

Higher density sprawling suburban development fundamentally alters these natural processes by introducing vast areas of impervious surfaces (roofs, roads, parking lots). This leads to: 

• Increased and rapid stormwater runoff: This causes erosion, flooding, and carries pollutants directly into waterways.
• Inland salinization: More roads and neighborhoods increase the amount of seasonal salting and increases the salinity of our streams, creeks, and rivers -all our water resources.
• Reduced groundwater recharge: Water cannot penetrate impervious surfaces, putting groundwater supplies at risk as well as impairing our perennial streams which depend on the surface /groundwater interface to survive.
• Infrastructure strain: High-density development requires the extension of public water and sewer lines, which has historically been restricted in the Rural Crescent to prevent this very sprawl and its associated costs and environmental impacts. 

While green infrastructure practices (like rain gardens and permeable pavements) are effective at managing stormwater within developed areas, they cannot fully replicate the scale and efficiency of a vast, naturally functioning forest and open space ecosystem. Preserving large natural landscapes is widely considered the most effective method for protecting regional water resources. Green Infrastructure is a necessary mitigation tool within existing or designated development areas, not a substitute for the preservation of critical environmental lands.