Population in the Charlottesville region is growing, and will continue to grow.

Several times in recent memory, modest droughts have brought restrictions on water use and calls that something be done to assure an adequate supply into the hazy future. The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority has been consulting, meeting, studying, discussing and otherwise developing possible courses of action. At the moment, there seem to be four principal possibilities, along with a large number of smaller or partial solutions. (No one has said that you must only do one thing):

• Increasing the height of the dam on the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir
• Dredging the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir
• Upgrading the Ragged Mountain Reservoir
• Building a Pipeline to the James River

There are considerable costs--financial, social and environmental--for each alternative. There are regulatory difficulties in each. The James River Pipeline has been getting increased attention recently, so we asked the three candidates for the Democratic nomination in the 57th House of Delegates District for their comments. Here's what each had to say, via email, over the past few days.

Kim Tingley:

As a Civil Engineer and a former utility director, I favor alternatives that leave the community in control of its raw water supply - namely the reservoir alternatives. However, I watched James City County attempt to obtain regulatory approval for its reservoir for about a decade. Ultimately they were not able to obtain approval.

The City of Newport News has been working for sixteen years to obtain approval of the King William Reservoir Project. At this time it seems likely that they will obtain approval. Damage to wetlands seems to be the significant issue that has been the stumbling block to regulatory approval of reservoir alternatives. It has already been identified that the reservoir alternatives have the potential to impact wetlands.

Wetlands damages due to pipeline construction are usually regarded as temporary and are less of a hurdle.

I hope that the reservoir alternatives prove viable. I wish the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority success in their efforts."

David Toscano:

I favor what has been called "the watershed solution," that is, a solution that is found in a series of steps to increase capacity and encourage conservation in our own watershed. I believe this is largely a local issue that will need to be solved locally, and I believe that there are a number of options that can be implemented locally without the need of the pipeline. The pipeline is problematic for a number of reasons, not the least of which involves concerns about the quality of the water that may flow from it, the cost of it, and the extent that its building may generate pressures for unplanned growth.

Rich Collins:

I am opposed to the James River pipeline option.We know, now, what the best choice is. Let's act on it.

There is sufficient evidence and studies to show that the water supplies that we need to meet reasonably foreseeable growth are available to Charlottesville-Albemarle within our traditional Rivanna watershed. The in-the-Rivanna watershed option offers a package of incremental additions and improvements which provide greater safey and security for our future drinking water needs, especially in times of drought. The in-the-Rivanna option will also reduce the price of water for existing users in the city and county because it is far less costly than the James River pipeline.

When I was Chair of the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority, I urged greater attention to the land-water connection in water-supply planning. The concept of Integrated Resource Planning or IRP was officially adopted by the RWSA at the behest of the League of Women Voters. IRP makes sense because it makes good common sense.. Most of the water we drink falls on the land, and then runs to the streams that feed our reservoirs. When our drinking water sources reside within our land planning authority we gain both ecological and political security.

IRP helps us acknowledge and publicize the Charlottesville-Albemarle Ecological Address. We all know our street address, as does the postman. Our Ecological Address, is often not known or appreciated by single-purpose water supply specialists. . We owe a great debt to the citizens who have worked so hard on our behalf to evaluate and advance the in-the-Rivanna alternative. Let's proceed to act now.

(Dave Sagarin, May 30, 2005)

Editor's Note: For a detailed review of some of the alternatives and their limitations, read the minutes of a recent joint meeting of Charlottesville City Council and Albemarle County Board of Supervisors. Also see "As Growing Population Tests the Area's Water Supply, Officials Look for Solutions to Ease Current Crisis."