As the City continues their bio-blitz study of the Ragged Mountain Dam area and citizens weigh in on whether runners, bikers, and dogs should be allowed there, we thought it would be a perfect time to share our perspective on responsible stewardship of the reservoirs.
Our charge
As a water provider our charge is two-fold: public health and environmental stewardship.
We provide an adequate, safe, drinking water to our community and then treat the wastewater so that it can safely return back to the environment downstream of the Charlottesville area.
We are fortunate
We ( now I mean Rivanna and our community) are very fortunate as a water provider to have a water source that is not downstream of other utilities like many of the utilities that rely on the James River water (e.g. Richmond) or downstream of large industrial facilities. Our water sources include the five reservoirs and two rivers we manage: Beaver Creek, South Fork Rivanna River, Ragged Mountain, Sugar Hollow, and Totier Creek.
This means we can carefully monitor and manage our water resources: really “tend our own garden.” We know the source by taking regular samples of our source water. Of course there are uncontrollable events like weather and unfortunate “litter bugs.” Tree limbs, leaves, deposits from wildlife or careless pet owners, litter like plastic water bottles can and do on occasion end up in our reservoirs.
So the next question becomes – how important is that for the quality of drinking water?
Treatment
To remove pollutants from drinking water, we use a multiple-barrier approach to assure that the water that reaches the tap in homes and businesses is of the very highest quality and is safe for public health. To maintain this standard, the effectiveness of all of these barriers is important. Subsequent barriers “back up” earlier barriers when those earlier barriers do not act to perfection.
Those many barriers start with the forest floor surrounding the reservoir that acts as a natural filter through underbrush, plants, and trees. If the City decides to allow pets at Ragged Mountain, we believe that first pet owners should clean up after their pets. The reservoir itself provides some treatment through nutrient uptake by plants and settling of matter in the water. Beyond the reservoir, our water treatment plant has several other barriers that include powdered activated carbon treatment, oxidation processes, coagulation and further settling of water, filtration, and finally disinfection with chlorine. The treatment plant also has well-trained professionals as operators who keep these various systems working optimally.
It Takes A Village
That we have multiple treatement barriers should not mean that watershed stewardship should take a back seat. Stewardship and vigilance of our drinking water at every step is essential. Everyone from homeowners, pet owners, outdoor lovers who recreate on or near the water, fishermen, and our own water operators should respect that our reservoirs are a source of drinking water and do their best to minimize pollution of the environment, both at the reservoirs and upstream in the watersheds.
To find out more about what we are doing, check out our Watershed Protection page and find out more what we are doing to protect the watershed along with others.
