"After months of community squabbling over the merits and feasibility of dredging the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, the process of settling that rancorous debate is about to begin.

Next month the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority will solicit proposals from companies to study the viability of maintenance dredging of the reservoir, and will start to assemble a local task force to define the scope of such an analysis.

The authority’s board is poised to endorse the study Monday, following in the footsteps of the Charl-ottesville City Council and the Albemarle Board of Supervisors. From there the real work will begin — deciding what should be examined and what the community wants dredging to accomplish.

“The simple goal is to be sure that we are maintaining the health of the reservoir to be a water source for the future, and there are lots of ways to go about doing that, so that’s what we want to study,” said Gary O’Connell, the city manager and a member of the water and sewer authority’s board.

Dredging the reservoir, which is filling with silt, has several possible benefits: It could improve the water quality, boost the water supply, increase recreational opportunities and improve the lives of fish, wildlife and plants.

Some, however, say that dredging can play another role: helping to meet the community’s water need for the next 50 years.

Albemarle and Charlottesville officials have approved a $142.8 million long-term water supply plan that entails the construction of a new dam at the Ragged Mountain Reservoir and, to fill the expanded capacity, the building of a pipeline from the South Fork reservoir. The water level in Ragged Mountain would be raised by 45 feet, increasing storage from 464 million gallons to 2.19 billion.

The state’s Department of Environmental Quality and federal regulators have endorsed the parts of the plan.

A vocal group of city residents, including several former councilors, contend that the plan is overly expensive and that dredging the South Fork could slash the price tag.

Former Councilor Kevin Lynch is optimistic that the dredging study will back up that claim. He has generated a list of alternatives that could cost between $80 million and $110 million and include a combination of dredging and other improvements.

“Once the technical work is done and the bids are in hand, then we really have to ask ourselves what the most cost effective and most environmentally sensitive way to proceed is,” he said, adding that “it is negligent that it hasn’t been investigated already.”

Most elected officials in the area see the water supply plan as a done deal and do not believe that the dredging study will affect it.

“I absolutely don’t think this will change our 50-year plan,” said Kenneth C. Boyd, chairman of Albemarle’s Board of Supervisors. “I think we need to keep moving forward with the expansion of Ragged Mountain and the pipeline, while maintaining the South Fork reservoir.”

Some opponents of the water plan say that by dredging the South Fork, officials would not have to build as high — and as costly — a dam at Ragged Mountain.

But the most expensive part of the new dam is the base, and lowering it 15 feet, as some suggest, would save only $7.7 million, said Dennis S. Rooker, a county supervisor. That savings would be more than offset by the cost of dredging he adds, negating the benefits.

At least one elected official — city Mayor Dave Norris — still believes dredging the South Fork could be included in the water plan without changing the fundamentals.

“If you are going to do dredging anyway for other reasons and are going to free up some water supply, why not factor that into the equation?” he asked.

The dredging study will also focus on ways to reduce sediment in the reservoir and cut down on erosion upstream.

The water and sewer authority has $300,000 set aside that could be used for the study. An outside company estimated at a public meeting this spring that such an analysis would cost $275,000.

Because the parameters of the study have yet to be finalized, it is impossible to nail down a cost, said Thomas L. Frederick Jr., the authority’s executive director.

The authority likely will begin accepting proposals July 8, with a deadline in early August. A company will then be selected in September, and the study could take several months.

As the authority is taking in bids, it will form the task force and ask for advice from residents and elected officials.

“We are not locked into anything,” Frederick said. “If the community has its own ideas and input, we want to make sure we are open minded and take those into account.”" (Seth Rosen, The Daily Progress, June 21, 2008)