May 5th’s Celebrate Our Drinking Water at Ragged Mountain Reservoir was a wet, but wonderful event!
Folks enjoyed hearing remarks about this significant milestone from Mayor Signer, Board of Supervisor Dr. Palmer, former Executive Director Tom Frederick, and ACSA Chair Clarence Roberts. We also heard from our chief engineer, Jennifer Whitaker, about the historical significance of the area from a dam and drinking water perspective. It was a day to look back and recognize the engineers, local officials, construction workers, and citizens around the turn of the century who made Ragged Mountain Reservoir the first drinking water supply source; a day to look forward to the next 50 years of clean, safe, reliable drinking water; and a day to celebrate the present! The Mayor commented that this was one of those rare occasions when rain is a value-add.
For today’s rain is tomorrow’s glass of water after all.
After the new commemorative plaque was unveiled and a toast was given by Chairman Mike Gaffney to “the best water this side of the Blue Ridge or maybe anywhere!”
Folks visited tables about each step of the process that water takes to get from Nature to your glass and back to Nature again. RWSA, Rivanna Conservation Alliance, Thomas Jefferson Soil & Water Conservation District, Charlottesville Public Works, and Albemarle County Service Authority had information on watershed protection, dam construction, water treatment, wastewater treatment, river stewardship, conservation and more. Supervisor Ann Mallek had a 3D landscape representation of a watershed to help people understand the relationship between water, the land, and the people.
About a dozen folks enjoyed the hike to the new floating bridge that crosses the reservoir about a mile east of the dam crossing.
To conclude the event Dave Tungate, our head water operator, sunk a time capsule that will be lifted in ten years. Contents include a May 5th , 2016 front page of Daily Progress; an event flyer; raffle card; consumer confidence report for the City Public Works from 2014 data; consumer confidence report for the Albemarle County Service Authority from 2014 data; faucet aerator; water conservation toothbrush; water conservation mirror cling; toilet rebate pamphlet (City);rain barrel rebate pamphlet (City); WaterSense pamphlet; water drops of the names attendees at today’s event; foam water drop toy; Holsinger photographs of dam from 1880’s; and a thumb drive with historical photos.
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- Dam Reaches Full Capacity
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- Carol at the Welcome Table
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- Jennifer Whitaker giving historical perspective
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- Unveiling of the Plaque
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- Emily, Flo, and Jill (ACSA and City)
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- Teri, Jennifer, Victoria, and Andrea (Rivanna)
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- Ragged Mountain Natural Area (hike to floating bridge)
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- Floating Bridge from the shore
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- Hikers at Floating Bridge
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- Hiking Crew
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- Time Capsule
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- Watershed
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- Dam Construction
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- Water Treatment
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- Albemarle County Service Authority
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- Visiting Fellows from Southeast Asia
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- City of Charlottesville Water Conservation
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- Wastewater
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- 3D Landscape (downstream stewardship)
