through, and there is no guarantee that it would be ap- Moormans rivers. The storage capacity aspect of it is a
proved by the regulators as we saw with Buck Mountain. To smart thing….It’s a frightening thing when you think of the
In June 2006, the
the regulators, the primary competitor for the Ragged situation of severe droughts….[M]ost of the pipeline goes on
Mountain dam plan was a pipeline to the James River - not UVA property, so it will impact people. The construction of
dredging. And one of the reasons I greatly support the local the dam will impact people. I already have somebody I need
City and County
plan is because it allows us to obtain our water locally. I to talk to in the Ednam Forest community who is not happy
have a concern about the quality of water that might be about this and we need as much possible make it with con-
piped in from the James, I have a concern about pharma- sidering what construction does, make it as great a project
signed off on a 50
ceuticals and things like that being flushed into the James as it can be.
upstream, and those things are generally not well removed
I attended as I mentioned several of those meetings and
year water supply
by water treatment….So yes, I support the plan. I think it’s
gone through a huge level of vetting and it’s something that
discussions and actually spoke out and said that I think that
we need to work together as a community to get in place.
drawing water from the James was not a good idea. So I
think it’s a great plan and I am fully in support of it. And I
plan that includes a
think at some future time and probably because we just
RIO DISTRICT
need to generally, the reservoir has not been dredged and if
we are to find a buyer for the dredge or the sludge or what-
new dam at Ragged
David Slutzky (D)
ever you want to call it, then entrepreneurial or PRN dredging
Incumbent
should be an option in future. I am not happy about seeing
the cost of the study to do the dredging go up and I am
Mountain Reservoir
We have a water supply plan that’s been supported by the
City and the County historically and we are in the process of
hoping that City Council and the Board of Supervisors will
getting the necessary support from the government bodies.
try to keep that under control, but they have chosen a firm
and a new pipeline
That plan in a nutshell is to take the existing Ragged
and so we will see where that goes.
Mountain Dam and replace it with a new dam that is taller,
creates a large reservoir of water at Ragged Mountain, and
John Lowry (I)
connecting it to the
then also it contemplates piping water from the Rivanna
Reservoir down to the Ragged Mountain Reservoir. The rea-
Well, I would be representing Samuel Miller District and the
son for that is the Ragged Mountain Reservoir has a huge
Ragged Mountain Dam is in Samuel Miller District and I am
South Fork Rivanna
storage capacity with a very small watershed, which means
in favor of the plan, the 50 year water supply plan as voted
it has very little opportunity for sedimentation. So it is a
upon by the four Boards in 2006….[T]hat doesn’t mean that
great holding tank for our water supply.
we can’t take into account other things, and those two other
Reservoir. Do you
things that brings to mind are conservation and dredging.
We have an excellent source of water coming into the com-
We could use both of those.
munity through the Rivanna and if we could take the benefit
support this plan?
of that and move that water over to the Ragged Mountain
The fact of the matter is we are required by the state to have
Dam we will have an unusually sustainable and local water
a long term plan, if we come to a period of time or several
supply plan. And that was the vision that went into the ulti-
periods of time in the next 50 years when we have severe
Why or why not?
mate decision to support the current water supply plan….
ground water depletion, we need to have a reservoir.The
best estimate at this time is 18 million [gallons per day]
I strongly support that plan. If the results of the in-stream
plus and we do not have that capacity with the present
flow [requirement modeling] were to suggest otherwise I
South Fork Rivanna Reservoir and conservation and dredg-
might revisit it but the folks at DEQ didn’t give me much
ing. So, I am in favor of the plan, it doesn’t mean that it
JACK JOUETT DISTRICT
hope that would happen. I do however support dredg-
can’t change even up until the time that dam is built, but
Dennis Rooker (I)
ing….[D]redging is something that shouldn’t be off the table.
that dam will be large and it will fill up a big reservoir and
It should be something that we examine. I just think it
Incumbent
the Ragged Mountain is a perfect receptacle for that water.
should be sort of separate from the water supply plan mov-
NOTE: Mr. Lowry’s response was taken from a related question on
I do support the plan. As a member of the Board of
ing forward. And I do support the water supply plan ab-
the water supply plan asked during the candidate interview.
Supervisors, I voted in favor of the plan. I also sat on a small
solutely.
group that discussed this plan significantly before it went
forward for public comment and [the group] was convinced
Rodney Thomas (R)
Duane Snow (R)
that it was the best plan for the community at that time. We Challenger
have really had hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of dis-
I definitely support the plan. We have been talking about
cussions, investigations, meetings and after all that public
I do support the 50-year water plan, again, with the new
adding to our water supply for 25 years. I am concerned
input, the plan was supported by the [vast] majority of the
facts that are going to be obtained through the new consult-
about the water supply for the future, 2002 was the year of
public who commented on the various plans being looked
ing firm. I would support a sustainable water supply for the
the drought and we were down to a 28 day supply or 20 day
at. [It] was approved by the four public bodies and every en-
area rather than having the mystery of not having enough
supply, I have often wondered what would have happened if
vironmental organization in the area at that time.
water for the future. Yes, I would support it.
we it had gone another 28 days. I think that we need to
solve the water problem and take it off the table rather than
Obtaining approval for a significant water supply plan from
constantly talking about it and spending literally millions of
state and federal agencies is a massive undertaking….There
SAMUEL MILLER DISTRICT
dollars solving a problem that should have been solved five,
seems to be a perception in the community that we could
Madison Cummings (D) six or ten years ago.
string together any number of other options to create an ap-
provable plan and that’s just not the case. Any such plan
Yes. Actually I have said it in public….[I]t’s a good plan. It’s
would have to go through the same process we just went
from our own watershed, it saves the Mechums and
7