Middleburg staff report PFAS detection in Well 3; council to scope long-range water options

Middleburg — Town staff reported that initial testing detected per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in Well 3 and outlined next steps to ensure reliable backup water supplies.

The town manager, Danny Davis, told the town council that Well 3 returned “some positive results” on initial PFAS tests and that continued monitoring would follow. He said Well 3 is currently considered an emergency or backup well and that the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) would not require mitigation at this point. Davis said the town will ask its on-call engineer to prepare a scope and timeline — he estimated a 4- to 6-month study — to evaluate options including treating Well 3, moving Well 3 water to a treatment facility, or securing an alternative backup water source, potentially including drilling a new well or acquiring property for one.

Why it matters: Well 3 can serve as a critical backup to Well 4 or the treatment plant during outages. The presence of PFAS triggered a formal planning response to protect the town’s supply and avoid interruptions to service.

Utilities staff member Vince reported the town’s December water operations maintained regulatory compliance and required sampling. He said the system’s daily average production rose to about 28,000 gallons and monthly finished volume was just under 4 million gallons; staff found two leaks in December — a water-main break on Maple Street on Dec. 5 and a smaller service-line break discovered Dec. 26 — both repaired quickly. On the wastewater side the plant’s daily average flow was a little over 100,000 gallons with a monthly discharge of roughly 3.3 million gallons and routine maintenance was completed.

Vince said generators worked during a brief power outage but noted their automatic transfer switches are older and cycled the units when a single phase dropped; staff will continue routine maintenance and consider future transfer-switch upgrades.

Davis also said the town remains subject to an emergency drought warning from the state (Virginia DEQ referenced in staff remarks), and the utility committee will continue to monitor well levels.

Separately, Davis said the town will require annual inspections of backflow-prevention devices for properties that present a cross-connection risk — examples he listed include irrigation systems, pools, yard hydrants and some water softeners. The town will mail letters to affected properties and require inspection reports submitted to the town by May 1; Davis said licensed backflow testers and businesses perform those inspections and that staff will provide contact information to residents. He added that the backflow requirement is a code-mandated public-health protection and that failure to comply could theoretically result in water service shutoff, although staff said it would seek other compliance options prior to that step.

On sewer infrastructure, the town requested an RFP for about 18,000 linear feet of sewer-video inspection (roughly half the system). Staff said the bidder’s price came in around $40,000–$42,000; the council previously budgeted $75,000. Danny Davis estimated the likely spend for the project will be $50,000–$60,000 depending on pipe condition and whether additional work is needed next year.

Discussion/directions: Council members asked about drilling a new well, land purchase needs and the age map of water and sewer mains; staff agreed to provide an updated map and pursue the engineer scope for water-source planning. No formal council vote was recorded on the engineering scope in the transcript; staff described these as next steps and recommendations for the utility committee and council review.

Ending: Staff will return to council with the engineer’s scope and timeline, proposed water-conservation ordinance language tied to metric thresholds, and updates on PFAS monitoring and the sewer-video inspection schedule.