Pipe dream: Mega-reservoir tied to moribund Bypass
Could dredging prevent this coal-burner?FROM WATER PLAN PERMIT SUPPORT DOCUMENT
Tom Frederick, the head of the Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority has never publicly revealed that his wished-for mega-reservoir in the Ragged Mountain Natural Area won’t work without a pipeline to fill it. But a memo prepared for him does.
The memo, recently obtained by a band of water watchers through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows that without the pipeline the planned reservoir— now in turmoil over a price tag which may hit $100 million and push the total project over $200 million— would provide a small fraction of its promised water and just one fifth of what would be supplied by simply dredging the community’s main reservoir.
According to engineering firm Gannett Fleming, dredging the existing Rivanna Reservoir— an officially dismissed but increasingly popular alternative— would supply five million gallons per day. A pipeline-less reservoir, by contrast, bolsters today’s water capacity of 12.8 million gallons per day by just 1.1 million to just 13.9 million gallons per day, according to a memo by Amanda Hess of the same firm.
“I know that, at first glance, that might not seem correct,” writes Hess. “Without the pipeline (more)
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