Water and Sewage in Loudoun County

In the past generation Loudoun County has grown from a predominantly rural area with a few small towns like Middleburg, and Leesburg to a booming high density suburb. The population has exploded to an estimated 336,000 in 2013. With people comes human waste-sewage. Under the terms of an agreement dating back to the first development of the Dulles Airport area the sewage from Loudoun County that was not handled by private septic systems was pumped to be treated by the District of Columbia’s sewage treatment plant.

The District of Columbia's sewage system, one of the oldest in the United States is located on the southernmost tip of Washington DC and called the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant. While there are larger sewer treatment plants, that remove the solids and bacteria, the modern day Blue Plains also has Tertiary Treatment to remove nitrogen and phosphorus making Blue Plains the largest advance treatment plant in the United States. The plant sits on 150 acres and has a rated average daily capacity if 370 million gallons per day and a peak wet weather capacity of 1,076 million gallons a day. The system needs such a large storm rated capacity to accommodate the old central city combined sewer system that overflows with predictable regularity during large storms. Blue Plains is under a consent order from the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, to meet new effluent limits for total nitrogen released and better control of the system during storms.

These problems and distance limited the long term ability of Blue Plains to treat waste water from Loudoun County. Today, 13.8 million gallons per day of the wastewater Loudoun County Service Authority (Loudoun Water) collects from the sewer system gets treated at Blue Plains Treatment Plant. Though that is still most of the waste water, Loudoun Water began treating waste water in Loudoun County in 2008. This was carefully tested and studied because Loudoun Water’s discharge is upstream of the of drinking water intakes for the three major Washington area water utilities, Washington Aqueduct, Fairfax Water, and Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. These utilities serve over three million people in the Washington, D.C. region. While sewage treatment discharges upstream of drinking water intakes are not uncommon in Virginia, a more stringent set of regulations were developed for the Washington D.C. metropolitan area drinking water supplies. The goal of the regulation is to provide an even higher level of assurance that the drinking water supply for the millions of regional residents is protected. The Dulles Watershed Regulation specifies:

• The number of sewage treatment plants is limited to two and ownership is specified;
• The two sewage treatment plants must be a minimum of 10 miles upstream of a drinking water intake or proposed intake;
• The effluent limitations are very stringent, far exceeding what might otherwise be required to protect water quality standards and exceeding effluent standards that have been achieved elsewhere. 

Loudoun Water began planning more than a decade ahead of the need and were able to work with Virginia Tech‘s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Laboratory, to develop a treatment strategy and pilot the program to demonstrate its effectiveness. Loudoun Water staff and its consulting team presented their findings in May, 2001.

After demonstration of the technology, Loudoun Water built the Broad Run Water Reclamation Facility (Broad Run), a state-of-the-art plant that treats wastewater to the limits of today’s technology. In 2008, Loudoun Water began collecting more wastewater than they could send to Blue Plains, and the Broad Run plant went on-line on May 2, 2008, meeting permit requirements on the very first day. The facility discharges to Broad Run, a tributary to the Potomac River, can treat up to 11 million gallons a day and has demonstrated the waste water technology of the future as well as a water resource management strategy emphasizing water reuse.

From Loudoun Water web site- Broad Run

The Broad Run plant uses preliminary screening/grit removal, primary clarification, fine screening (2 mm), flow equalization, a membrane bioreactor, and activated carbon and UV disinfection. The membrane bioreactors are dispersed in twelve membrane tanks. Membrane filtration eliminates the need for clarifiers and settling tanks, and results in improved water quality that enables water reuse. The first water reuse projects in the county have been completed. So far Loudoun Water has installed over 30,000 feet of reclaimed water pipe called “purple pipe” to two data centers and the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation located along Route 28. These customers receive reclaimed water for irrigation, cooling towers and other non-potable uses, in order to meet LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) criteria and other environmental and economic goals (recycled water is cheaper). Waste activated sludge from the Broad Run plant is centrifuge thickened, combined with primary sludge for stabilization in anaerobic digesters, and centrifuge dewatered prior to land application. Loudoun Water is proactively planning for the future of their region.

There are sections of Loudoun County that are not served by Loudoun Water. These area are either served by private well and septic system or community systems. As Loudoun County was expanding, developers began building free standing Community Water and Wastewater Systems. These systems provide water to a rural development, village or hamlet and may also provide wastewater treatment utilizing what is called a packaged treatment facility. Treated wastewater is discharged either on site (to a drip irrigation field) or to local streams and rivers. These packaged systems are limited and have a permitted capacity of about 170 gallons per day of waste water per house that should not be exceeded. Loudoun County's Comprehensive General Plan does not allow central water and sewage service into the Rural Policy Area. To get this changed would require a Comprehensive Plan Amendment (CPAM).

Public Meeting on the Bi-County Parkway

Monday evening June 3^rd the Virginia Department of Transportation, VDOT, held a Public Information meeting from 6 to 9 pm at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas, VA. The meeting was held in response to public outcry against the roadway variously known as the Tri-County Parkway, Bi-County Parkway, Outer Beltway and North-South Corridor and Battlefield Parkway.  For the first hour, VDOT had materials in the lobby outlining the history of the planned roadway, and addressing public concerns that had been raised, collected questions and a list of people who wished to address the meeting. From 7 to 8:15 Charles Kilpatrick who is the Chief Deputy Commissioner for VDOT addressed the crowd.  The meeting was held in a packed auditorium attended by a crowd of over 500 that thinned out considerably after the VDOT presentation and as the evening wore on. VDOT did not answer all the questions submitted (only those selected by staff) nor did they call on everyone who requested two minutes. There were too many questions and Mr. Kilpatrick only addressed the questions that he felt able to address. Someone at his level cannot be expected to know the environmental impact details, details of the section 106 mitigations negotiated, legal aspects of eminent domain or how to pronounce Catharpin and on which corner on route 29 is the Stone House.

The first thing that VDOT settled is the planned road is called the Bi-County Parkway.  Mr. Kilpatrick presented the VDOT plan for all the improvements in northern Virginia and the reason this parkway is planned at all. The basis for the plan is VDOT’s projections of what the traffic and population growth will be in the next 30 years. In addition he showed the current traffic congestion in the north south roads getting from the housing developments in Dominion Valley, Gainesville, the new massive housing construction in Loudoun between the Loudoun county line and the Greenbelt on both sides of route 50 between route 15 and Loudoun County parkway. All those residents need to reach an east-west route to commute and try to avoid the traffic problems that construction in Loudoun and route 50 have created.  VDOT projects that the north south traffic will continue to increase (though mostly north of the Loudoun County line according to the VDOT traffic projections) and that by eliminating route 29 as an east-west corridor through Prince William county that traffic will be alleviated in the north south roadways.

In addition in addressing concerns that the limited access Bi-County Parkway will be a toll road, Mr. Kilpatrick stated that while I-66 will get HOT toll lanes, the four lane portion of the Bi-County Parkway made HOT lanes impractical. This seems to be a change in position for VDOT, though Mr. Kilpatrick did not frame this as being a response to public concern and the efforts of Delegates Marshall and Hugo.

There had been a significant negative community response to the plan for the Bi-County Parkway in the past two months since VDOT released the “Northern Virginia North-South Corridor of Statewide Significance –Corridor Master Plan” on April 8, 2013. In that document VDOT stated “the Northern Virginia North-South CoSS (Corridor of Statewide Concern) will be an integrated, multimodal network of transportation facilities that connect major centers of activity within and through the Commonwealth and promote the movement of people and goods essential to the economic prosperity of the State.”

The key elements of the Bi-County Parkway outlined in that publication were:

• “Construction of a continuous high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) facility between I-95 and the area west of Washington Dulles International Airport, which would operate during peak periods in the morning and evening.”
• “Establishment of a high-occupancy toll (HOT) system for the Corridor between the intersection of VA 234 and Country Club Drive and the Washington Dulles International Airport area. Vehicles carrying three or more persons (HOV 3+) would be able to access the system at no cost, and other vehicles would pay a toll to access the HOV/HOT lanes during peak periods.”
• “Construction of a new roadway connection between the North-South Corridor and the Washington Dulles International Airport area, providing connections to VA 606 and improving regional and statewide access to the airport, surrounding freight facilities, and the Metrorail Silver Line.”
• “Provision of new and expanded transit services operating throughout the Corridor... They will provide north-south mobility as well as connections for individuals destined toward the east and west via transfers at convenient locations such as park-and-rides and rail stations. Construction of a continuous multi use trail along the Corridor for the use of bicyclists and pedestrians, allowing them to access activity centers throughout the north-south corridor seamlessly.”
• “Improvements to transportation demand management programs (TDM) within the Corridor, focused on marketing and promotion of the expanded transit services and the HOV network.”

During the meeting on Monday Mr. Kilpatrick stated that the Rural Crescent will not be opened up to development by this multi-lane highway because the road will be limited access through Prince William county. The only access points in Prince William County will be I-66, Route 29, and existing Route 234 west of the Battlefield. The environmental study is being completed. There is only $12,000,000 available for design in the current 6 year plan, though money has been allocated for “traffic calming” on route 29 through the park ahead of the development of any other roadway.  Mr. Kilpatrick did not explain what kinds of traffic calming measures would be used. In addition, Mr. Kilpatrick stated that the Battlefield will be enhanced, Sudley Methodist Church will maintain an access route and be eligible for signage, though their road will be closed to the public. Finally, Pageland Road will remain open.

Delegate Bob Marshall followed Mr. Kilpatrick. He said the VDOT presentation was three years too late, and there had been a lack of candor or transparency in the process. Delegate Marshall said that there has never been a corridor of significance in absence of an existing road, and designation of this corridor as CoSS had not followed VDOT’s own procedures. He said that this was road was being built for political purposes or was a developer’s road to a round of applause. Delegate Marshall was followed by a legislative aid for Delegate Hugo who read his statement. The Delegate had met with the Governor on Monday and could not attend the meeting.

Prince William County community objections to this planned parkway have focused on several issues that are still of concern to the community.

1. The Bi-County Parkway will drive all the east-west traffic from route 29 which will be effectively closed to through traffic by "traffic calming measures" to I-66 increasing traffic on that road.
2. The Bi-County Parkway is intended to be a 4 lane and 6 lane highway that will provide direct access to Dulles Airport, but have limited access to the Prince William community, yet will utilize a section of the Rural Crescent for the road essentially destroying the intent of the Rural Crescent.
3. The planned road will require that Virginia invoke eminent domain to take more than a dozen homes.
4.   Route 234 through the Battlefield that provides road access to several businesses and Sudley Methodist Church (that predates the Civil War) will be eliminated. As the Reverend Mitchell explained the Church believes that closing the road to through traffic will remove the Church from everyday lives of its members and potential members in the community, and effectively land lock and isolate the Church within the park to a slow death. This has happened to other churches.
5.  Closing route 234 through the park and route 29 through the park to through traffic essentially isolates northwestern Prince William County from the rest of the county and Manassas. There is no route from Heathcote Health Center to Prince William Hospital without going on I-66. The only route from Dominion Valley, Regency and all the development on route 15 to Manassas or anywhere will be I-66 which will be the only way to cross from western Prince William County to Eastern Prince William County.
6.   The Bi-County Parkway does nothing to improve east-west traffic, instead it provides connectivity to the airport that Prince William residents do not want, divides the county and eliminates connections within our county and only benefits the Loudoun County developments.
7.  The route through Prince William County’s Rural Crescent potentially damages our watershed  and water resources. The Rural Crescent provides a significant portion of our green infrastructure to our community.  Green infrastructure connects the still intact habitat areas through a network of corridors that provide for wildlife movement and trails as well as pathways for pollinators. Maintaining intact, connected natural landscapes is essential for basic ecosystem and watershed preservation to ensure that there will always be clean air and water in Northern Virginia. The Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC) has called the corridor one of three priority conservation area for the region.

The Rural Crescent an Essential Part of Our Green Infrastructure

At the regular March meeting of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors while considering requests for exceptions to the comprehensive plan, Supervisor Martin Nohe supported by the other county Supervisors seemed to feel that it was time to reconsider some of the planning and development decisions that had been made in the past and asked for staff to produce an analysis of the usefulness of the Rural Crescent in achieving those goals. The request was made by Supervisor Nohe to Prince William County staff and noted in the minutes.

The Rural Crescent was created in 1998 and has been chipped away at with exception requests every year. Higher density development means money to developers and landowners. There is much passion when money is on the table. The Rural Crescent in Prince William County was originally intended as an urban growth boundary for the county designed to preserve our agricultural heritage and force redevelopment along the Route 1 corridor rather than Greenfield development in the remaining rural areas. Maintaining the emphasis on redevelopment of areas with preexisting infrastructure would allow Prince William County to improve storm water management, achieve nutrient and sediment reductions for the EPA mandated TMDL, revitalize older areas of the county and preserve the Greenfields. The Rural Crescent may have started with different intentions; but today the Rural Crescent is about water, groundwater and ecosystem preservation.

Supervisor Nohe’s interest in transforming the 80,000-acre rural crescent where development has generally limited to one home per 10 acres with no access to public sewer is of great concern. Even though I believe that Supervisor Nohe is interested in moving towards sustainable community concepts, high density communities utilizing the strategies of Low Impact Development, LID, which include dedicated open space will not guarantee the preservation of our ecosystem and water. When development disturbs more than 10% of the natural land by covering surfaces with roads, driveways, walkways, patios, and homes the natural hydrology of the land is disturbed, irreparably disturbed. These developments while much better than traditional developments still disturb more than half the land area by significantly increasing allowed building density.

 While it has been demonstrated that LID strategies can reduce the impact of development, there is no demonstrated strategy of how communities can control and maintain natural storm water features and preserve and maintain the safety and ecology of preserved open space. There are no regional groundwater studies, regional ecosystem pans and no budgets for maintaining the open space.  Access control and prevention of improper use (underage drinking, drug use and sale,  other illicit activities, dirt bike racing) addressing deer population management and hunting adjacent to high density homes, litter and trash removal, maintenance of natural landscapes and supervision all cost money and time. No legal structures exist that guarantee open spaces will not be developed in the future to defray maintenance costs.  Why the Rural Crescent was formed is less important than understanding that the Rural Crescent provides a significant portion of our green infrastructure to our community.  

Green infrastructure connects the still intact habitat areas through a network of corridors that provide for wildlife movement and trails as well as pathways for pollinators. Maintaining intact, connected natural landscapes is essential for basic ecosystem and watershed preservation to ensure that there will always be clean air and water in Northern Virginia. Maintaining a tree canopy and controlling runoff to prevent stream bank erosion and water quality impairments and maintaining adequate water flows through groundwater and surface recharge are vital to ensuring safe water supplies, water recreation and the ecological integrity of the region. The Northern VirginiaRegional Commission (NVRC) has developed a Conservation Corridor PlanningProject which is a regional effort to identify essential green infrastructure and help area governments to avoid the mistakes of the past and maintain the few remaining green corridors along the rivers and reservoirs in Fairfax and integrate green infrastructure planning into the future development planning of Prince William and Loudoun counties.  

According to NVRC there are three priority regional conservation corridors in Prince William County.  Bull Run Mountain and Catoctin Mountain corridor is a north-south corridor connecting the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Northern Virginia.  The corridor provides significant intact habitat for Northern Virginia wildlife.  North of Leesburg, the corridor is the karst terrain of Loudoun underlain by limestone, and highly susceptible to pollution that provides a significant ground water recharge.

Karst aquifers are highly vulnerable to contamination. This vulnerability results from: sinkholes, widened flow paths, and rapid velocities of ground water and contaminants. Contaminants can be transmitted quickly from entry in a sinkhole to wells and springs in the vicinity. Sinkhole creation, sinkhole flooding, and groundwater contamination are the major hazards associated with karst terrain, and unlike other natural hazards they are chronic in nature. South of Route 50 the Bull Run Mountain ridge is the location of a significant area of recharge for the groundwater that ultimately maintains and feeds Bull Run and the Occoquan River. This area is part of a fractured rock system with limited overburden and no natural attenuation. A polluted plume could be carried for miles without dilution.

The second priority conservation area is begins at the Bull Run Mountains and heads east across Route 15 to Manassas covering the land between Route 50 and 29 to the confluence of the Occoquan River with Belmont Bay. This corridor is rich in water and environmental resources that ultimately deliver drinking water to over one million Northern Virginia residents. The Occoquan Reservoir, one of the country’s first water reclamation facilities where sewage treatment water is returned to provide water recreation. The western portion of the area is part of the Culpeper Basin Important Birding Area and the Culpeper Basin Groundwater Aquifer. Preventing water contamination and ensuring adequate groundwater recharge are vital to ensuring safe water supplies, recreation opportunities and the ecological integrity of the region.

The third priority conservation area is the Potomac Gorge and Quantico Corridor, the greenbelt that connects Prince William National Forest Park with Manassas Battlefield. This area includes large tracks of undeveloped private land. The western portion of the Rural Crescent was not identified by NVRC as a high priority conservation area because they failed to consider the importance of the groundwater aquifer. The Culpeper basin is part of a much larger PiedmontGeologic Province and has only begun to be studied thanks to the carefulgroundwater measurements taken by Loudoun County as excessive development ofthe western part of the county began to impact water supplies.  Groundwater quantity and quality in our region impacts not only groundwater wells, but stream flow and recharge to the surface water. In short all the drinking water in Prince William County. Groundwater recharges at various rates from precipitation and other sources of infiltration. The recharge is not spread evenly across the land. Pave over the land, change surface flow and infiltration and groundwater recharge are reduced.

Important regional waterways, such as Goose Creek, Bull Run, the Potomac River and Occoquan Reservoir thrive because they are shaded by trees and vegetation that filter stormwater, prevent erosion, and facilitate ground water recharge and moderate temperatures. Green infrastructure maintenance ensures the forested buffers are maintained and enhanced over time, protecting public health and water quality. Maintaining and enhancing forested buffers near Northern Virginia’s waterways requires focus on how to maintain and protect these ecological resources. The EPA has identified nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment as the three primary pollutants that must be reduced to restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. They have mandated to Virginia and the other Chesapeake Bay Watershed states and Washington DC an approximate 25% reduction in these pollutants. A wide range of approaches can address these impairments, including reducing runoff and restoring stream banks and buffer areas. Adding more development in the Rural Crescent will not reduce the current level of sediment and nutrient pollution, and will not assure our water resources and ecology.