Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Regional Water Planning topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
TJPDC presenter: Virginia now requires regional water supply plans; local submission due by October 2029
Summary
A Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission official told councilors the General Assembly revised code to require regional, river-basin water supply planning; TJPDC received a small planning grant (~$8,000) to begin cataloging local data and said the consolidated plan is due to DEQ in October 2029. Councilors pressed on cross-jurisdictional burdens and Green County reservoir implications.
Ruth Emerick of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission told the City Council on May 5 that Virginia law now requires water supply planning at a regional, river-basin level and that localities in the Middle James 1 Regional Planning Unit must contribute data for a single, consolidated plan.
Emerick said the commission applied for and was awarded about $8,000 to help with administrative costs for the work, and that the first regional plan is not required to be submitted to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) until October 2029. "We have a little bit of time to figure this out," Emerick said, noting the initial work will focus on assembling and cataloging existing local data by watershed.
Councilors asked how the regional requirement would affect Charlottesville's obligations to neighboring jurisdictions, whether the city could be asked to subsidize infrastructure in counties that have not invested in water systems, and how the Green County reservoir status would factor into regional planning. Emerick and staff said many questions remain and that the planning unit will need to assess whether cross-connections, shared infrastructure or coordination is appropriate.
Jennifer Whitaker, director of engineering and maintenance at the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority, said her expectation for the first five-year plan is that it will catalog existing local plans and data. "I really do believe that first five-year plan is going to be about cataloging the work that everyone has done to date," Whitaker said, adding that more technical requirements from DEQ could emerge later.
Logan Indie, a regional planner with TJPDC, described the change as a river-basin approach that consolidates data across jurisdictions. Emerick and TJPDC staff said they will hold stakeholder kickoff meetings once contracts and DEQ guidance are in place and that more funding or technical assistance may be necessary for the work.
Action and next steps: TJPDC voted a resolution to affirm participation of its member localities in the Middle James 1 Regional Planning Unit; the city will await additional DEQ guidance and TJPDC outreach to determine needed local commitments before any separate council resolution is required.
