Fluvanna County Reservoir?

August 23, 2006 |

Those of you who live in Fluvanna, or are at least familiar with it, know that public water is a big issue.  Fluvanna recently partnered with neighboring Louisa County to build a pipeline from the James River that would carry water all the way to the Zion Crossroads area, in order to aid in development there.  Fluvanna has already gained the necessary approval from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to build the pipeline, and is in the bidding process for the project. 

The latest development in the water saga occurred at the most recent Fluvanna Board of Supervisors meeting, as reported in the Fluvanna Review.  The following is from the Review Article  about the meeting:

 A possible complement to the proposed James
River water pipeline to the Zion Crossroads area has emerged. In a
presentation to the Planning Commission’s Comprehensive Plan work
session on Infrastructure, Mr. Minor Eager suggested that a reservoir
could provide water to the Zion Crossroads business corridor.

Mr. Eager would build a 235-acre (about 1 billion gallons) reservoir on
his property, and fund it through the private sector. If constructed,
it would include a 360-degree water/sewer treatment facility, thereby
substantially reducing county costs for water treatment and storage.
Planning Commission members took the proposal under advisement.

I find this to be an interesting development.  For starters Mr. Eager has been very active in the movement to preserve the rural areas of Fluvanna, and it is good to see that he is willing to step up and personally help the county.  Secondly, he proposes to fund it through the private sector.  This is significant in that Fluvanna is already planning several other public projects that are requiring increases in the property taxes of residents.  As Mr. Eager is proposing the reservoir, it would not place additional burden upon the tax payers, while still achieving Fluvanna’s stated goal of increasing water availability. 

I sincerely hope that the leaders of Fluvanna County will look very closely at the feasibility of Mr. Eager’s proposal.  I am always an advocate of ideas that will serve the public good without reaching in the pockets of the public. 

Posted by Daniel | Filed Under Fluvanna, Louisa, News 

Comments

One Response to “Fluvanna County Reservoir?”

  1. TrvlnMn on August 23rd, 2006 3:15 pm

    I don’t believe in the inherent goodness of humanity. I think a little more digging needs to be done to find out what exactly Mr. Eager plans on getting out of this arrangement.

    Imagine this… Pipeline feeds from James River to Mr. Eagers “Private” reservoir to be “redistributed” from there to the rest of the communities it serves. Does this make Mr. Eagers a private for profit water utility? Would everyone be okay with that? Or how about the idea of him setting up a “Bottled water” business in conjunction with the project? Or is Mr. Eagers a developer who hopes to benefit from the trade off?

    Too many unanswered questions- more digging is needed.

    As it is they will need some sort of holding area inbetween the James and the filtration plant as a buffer between their need and the river’s health, and as hedge against dryer times.

    Also keep in mind the James River get’s *all* of Lynchburg’s storm water runoff. Think about that Rainbow of chemicals you see running down the street during any given rainstorm. Fluvanna and Louisa will be drinking from that.

    [Reply]

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