 Sally Thomas will serve as the task force’s chair |
A task force created to evaluate dredging and future uses of the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir will hold its first meeting on August 12, 2008 in Room 241 of the County Office Building from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The South Fork Reservoir Stewardship Task Force will consist of 13 members and will be chaired by Supervisor
Sally Thomas (Samuel Miller)
, who is representing the Charlottesville-Albemarle League of Women Voters.
The other members on the panel are:
The first meeting will consist of an information session on the current state of the reservoir, as well a presentation from David Hirschman, a former Albemarle County employee who has written many planning studies on the reservoir. In a press release, Thomas said the intends to have the task force be “helpful, useful, community-involved, fact-based and an efficient entity.” The Task Force will meet for “several weeks” before making a report.
Since construction was completed in 1966, the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir has never been dredged. Intensive sedimentation in the reservoir’s watershed has caused it to lose 1% of its storage capacity each year. Opponents of the plan to build a new 112’ dam at Ragged Mountain argue that dredging at South Fork could restore sufficient water storage capacity to avoid building a new dam that large. However, the press release from the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority (RWSA) announcing the Task Force meeting states that the body’s mission “will reflect resolutions adopted by the Charlottesville City Council and Albemarle County Board of Supervisors in June 2008,” resolutions that the release says “continued support for the expansion of the Ragged Mountain Reservoir as the community’s long-term water supply.”
Sean Tubbs
