Loudoun’s water plan risks drying up our future

Dear Editor:

Here in Western Loudoun, we are reckoning with our effect on the water table and its remaining resources. The Loudoun County Preservation and Conservation Coalition recently published a groundwater study which found that the water table has decreased between 10 and 40 feet over the past 20 years. We already feel some of the effects.

There are several residents in Paeonian Springs who experience challenges disposing of wastewater, as well as a handful of residents in Waterford who struggle to access enough potable water for their needs.

Loudoun County has proposed a plan they estimate will cost $60 million dollars. They would drill up to five supply wells along Clarkes Gap Road to produce enough water to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool every day. To support those wells, the County would also construct a water treatment facility, one or more pumping stations, water mains, and forced mains, which would pump clean water uphill to Paeonian Springs, so the wastewater can flow back down to the treatment plant.

The County plans to use eminent domain to take as many as 20 acres along Clarkes Gap Road, an officially designated Virginia Byway. They would remove frees and level hills to make way for the construction along Catoctin Creek. Waterford is a National Historic Landmark and Paeonian Springs is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This massive construction project is estimated to take at least eight months and would make Clarkes Gap Road unrecognizable.

There is no plan to mitigate the harm this could do to the current residents. Removing that much water every day will likely lower the groundwater beyond the draw points for many of our wells. How will Loudoun County then supply water to those whose access they have cut off? Catoctin Creek could experience seasonal dry spells. On the northern edge of Waterford, there are concerns that the wastewater discharge would be more than the stream base flow into the Potomac River.

Loudoun County’s proposed solution is not only convoluted but would cause irreparable harm to the entire area. Wells would dry up, and land values would decline. Traffic during the proposed construction would be nightmarish for our many commuters. It would also be costly, time consuming, and forever alter our beautiful landscape.

No person should be denied fresh water, and we should all be able to dispose of wastewater safely to protect our communities. In the past, separate solutions would have been developed to address each of these very serious but very different problems. 

Loudoun County must develop separate plans to meet the needs of its citizens. A plan which does not propose such a great amount of damage would be a nice start.

Nan Cross
Waterford