NSVRC begins review of regional water supply plan

FRONT ROYAL, Va. (WHSV) – The Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission (NSVRC) has begun the process of revising its regional water supply plan.

Once complete, the updated plan will help local governments, including those in Page and Shenandoah counties, work together to guide the future of water use in the area.

The NSVRC said the process of updating the regional water supply plan will provide an opportunity for local governments to come together to see the big picture of future water use in the region.

“We will include information on water sources, water use, water resources, demand projections, water management actions, of course, drought response plans and emergency plans, and recently, identification of water supply risks and proposed ideas for regional strategies to address these risks,” said Brandon Davis, executive director of the NSVRC.

Davis said the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will be involved in the early stages of the planning process to help coordinate a list of contacts for each water authority and local government in the region and set up a launch meeting in the spring.

“This regional planning process will get these local governments to communicate effectively and build relationships so that we can plan for a future where hopefully the water supply is not restricted and where these droughts that we’re starting to see they are attacked with a face,” Davis said.

Lee Harvey owns and operates the Burnshire Hydroelectric Dam on the Shenandoah River outside of Woodstock. He said that collaboration on water use is extremely important in light of the drought in recent years.

“There are a lot of stakeholders who rely on the river. Anywhere from residential owners to industrial users and all of these stakeholders need to be brought together in one concerted effort,” said Harvey. “Simply, the river no longer has the capacity of the population and demands to meet water needs 365 days a year. So we need to start coordinating, and we probably need to start looking at water storage.”

Harvey said creating water storage would require a major infrastructure project to create a reservoir system.

“Almost if you’re going to store water, you’re going to have to create reservoirs, and that’s not a cheap process and it’s not a quick process. But using the quarries we have now, they’re just tapping into the groundwater, so in some cases you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul,” he said. “I can’t stress enough that if we don’t start doing something now, because these are 20-year projects, we’re going to get further and further behind the eight ball.”

Water supply regulations are enforced at the local and state level. The NSVRC said the hope is that its updated water supply plan will lead to more communication and future planning among all water stakeholders.

“The one thing I’m really hoping to get out of this is a consistent message and a consistent plan that all local governments in the Commonwealth can agree to communicate in times of drought and times of growth,” Davis said .

Brandon Davis said the updated water supply plan will be developed over the next five years.