LCSA Seeks Mandatory Water Restrictions

So there's a well somewhere in Broadlands that's hooked up to the irrigation system, or do they truck in water from somewhere to supply the system's... reservoir??

 

There are wells in Broadlands that supply the irrigation system.

 

if you are interested, go to http://inter1.loudoun.gov/webpdbs/ enter your address, zoom out, go to layers, environmental, click Wells and apply.

 

Very cool link, wahoogeek. Unfortunately it made me depressed to see how much I bought my house for....I tried to forget!

 

Does anyone know if there is a preregistration for the odd/even watering schedule? I plan to water new sod this week, becuase we sodded over 500sq feet mid september (within the odd/even exception). We are wondering if there is a place to register or if we just fend off the complaints as they roll in.

 

Correct. Do we need to preregister or just fend off complaints?

 

Uh, neighbor, you are required to request a waiver if you are watering. Visit the website mentioned in earlier posts.

 

Since we've planted NEW vegetation/Sod - I am thinking that holding onto our receipts & landscaping invoices will be our "proof" in case we get a complaint for running our irrigation system on Odd # days? This is from LCSA:

Any new grass, sod or vegetation planted since September 1, 2007 may be watered on an odd-even schedule. The over-seeding of existing turf does not qualify for this exemption.

http://www.lcsa.org/about/viewNews.cfm?newsID=61B9DA0B-C29F-55DB-8F2FED6B903F5193

Any thoughts?

 

Just my thought, but it would seem to me that during a water emergency, I'd hold off on planting any new "vegetation/sod" until next spring, thereby negating any need to run my irrigation system. I'd think the S.O. would have better things to do than following up on watering complaints and I have a lot better things to do with $500.00 than give it to the County. And I'd hate to take a shower at the local Holiday Inn for 5 days. I suppose I could bathe in the Beaverdam Resevoir but pretty soon there won't be any water left in it either.

 

KTdid, I don't think that is correct. You do not have to file a waiver for something that is already exempted (as thepea2001 pointed out). The exemption trumps the waiver.

 

I am having trouble figuring out why there is a "Water Emergency". LCSA states that our water comes from the Potomac River, purchased from Fairfax Water, and the most recent statement from Fairfax Water says:

"The flow in the Potomac River, while low, remains at a level about twice that of current water supply demands. Special water supply reservoirs constructed in the early 1980s to provide water during droughts are currently full and unlikely to be needed."

 

Those reservoirs are indeed quite full and they will be utilized to send a large pulse of water downstream to calibrate flow models for the Potomac.

Just keep in mind what the condition of our water resources would have been had over 30,000 new houses been put in the demand loop. Water is not an infinite resource.

 

I believe restrictions are due to the low levels of the Beaverdam Reservoir. Go to the LCSA website to see a graphic showing how low it is.

From a Leesburg Today article:

"The depletion of the Ashburn lake, on which the Loudoun County Sanitation Authority has relied to supply as much as 12 million gallons of its customer's daily water needs, is the main reason the Loudoun Board of Supervisors Tuesday imposed emergency water restrictions.

The reservoir, now at 20 percent of its capacity, is at its lowest level since the 1999 drought. Regionally, that previous drought was more severe because Potomac River supplies also were affected, requiring the release of water from reserve supplies from up river reservoirs to keep flows high enough feed municipal intakes. This year, regional leaders say the Potomac River continues flow at adequate levels.

Under action taken this week, the LCSA's 55,000 eastern Loudoun customers will get virtually all their water from the Potomac, via the Fairfax County Water Authority's Corbalis treatment plant."

 

Ok, so the Beaverdam Reservoir is low. I still am not sure how this qualifies as an "emergency" if the Potomac is at twice the level necessary for our current water usage.

 

I'm not familiar with the details of Potomac River flows at this time, but if that statement is true, it's basically saying that one half of the flow in the river is being utilized for municipal usage. Some of this will make it back to the river in the form of treated effluent, but much will be lost. The scary thing for the Potomac and its fish and wildlife is that flows could be reduced to critical levels. This would also affect recreational uses and plain old aesthetics. Who wants to look at a dry river bottom. Many rivers in the arid west literally go dry because of excessive withdrawls for agricultural and municipal uses. And look at it this way, if the water demands of northern Viriginia double (as expected due to rapid growth), then similar conditions to what we are experiencing now would result in NO water in the river. A little conservation and planning may not be such a bad thing after all.

 

We should all take this water shortage as a warning to start looking to conserve water usage far more than we do. We went down to the Reservoir this evening to take a look at it and I was amazed at how far out we could walk from what used to be the shore and how little water actually remained there. Too many for granted that water will always be there for our use and continue to water their lawns almost daily (frequently in the late morning or middle of the day when it does no good) as well as the excessive water all of the large communities in the area do (I know many are on their own water supplies).

 

Sorry, I am not an expert in this area. I was only trying to help. Please contact the LCSA directly for an accurate explanation.

 

I'm sorry but, the water will return.