The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority approved an agreement between the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County yesterday to share the cost of a new dam aimed at increasing the size of the Ragged Mountain Reservoir.
The City will pay 15 percent of the cost of the dam, while the county will be responsible for the remaining 85 percent.
The project will cost $21.5 million and will be funded by both the City and County through water utility bills, RWSA Executive Director Tom Frederick said in an email.
Thalle Construction Company of Hillsborough, N.C. is scheduled to begin construction this March.
Approved by a 3-2 City Council vote, the new earthen dam will provide 1.1 billion gallons of additional water to Charlottesville and Albemarle.
Council member Dede Smith spoke on behalf of Council's decision, even though she voted against it. Smith said once construction is complete, the total additional water will double the amount of water currently stored.
Smith said additional future benefits will include the ability to try to simulate natural streamflows in the Moormans River in Albemarle and make the 104-year-old dam less of a safety hazard.
Critics, such as Rebecca Quinn, chairwoman of Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan, maintain that dredging portions of the existing reservoir would provide abundant water to the City with fewer financial and environmental impacts than building a larger dam.
Yet Frederick said the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality determined that expanding the Ragged Mountain Reservoir is the "least environmentally damaging, practicable alternative."
Four acres of new wetlands will be constructed and maintained as part of the plan, and the dam will "improve the release of water from dams to local streams," Frederick said.
A 25 percent surcharge on City water rates, to which the University contributes, has been in place since 2002 in preparation for water supply expansions, Smith said.
Because of this previous surcharge, the City and the University "will not see an additional rate increase as a result of this project," she added.
The project also includes a 10-mile uphill pipeline climbing through Albemarle and the University area, which will pump water to fill the Ragged Mountain Reservoir.
The RWSA will have to borrow money to pay for this portion of the plan, for which the City has agreed to pay 40 percent of the costs, Smith said.
Construction for the pipeline is expected to begin in 2035, and will likely cost twice as much as the dam, she said.
The Ragged Mountain Natural Area will be closed during construction of the dam, which could take between 18 and 24 months to complete. The water level of the reservoir will also be lowered by about two-thirds during construction.
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