The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday (July 14) honored the 37-year service of retiring Fairfax Water General Manager Jamie Bain Hedges.
“We have a luxury in Fairfax County of having clean, accessible water,” Board Chair Jeff McKay said during a ceremony honoring Hedges.
“Drinking water is literally life,” McKay said. “We never take for granted that we have a first-class Fairfax Water system.”
Fairfax Water provides wholesale and retail water service to 2.2 million Northern Virginians. Hedges joined the government owned utility as an engineer and was named general manager in 2021.
Her leadership combined “professionalism and the ability to focus on what’s important,” Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn said.
Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity said Fairfax Water has managed to provide high quality service at a low cost.
“That’s an incredible feat,” he said. “That takes a leader that can build a team.”
Residents “turn on the tap and it’s there,” Herrity said, praising Fairfax Water as “probably the most responsive government agency I’ve ever dealt with.”
In remarks, Hedges said she was humbled by the recognition, and noted the evolution in her profession since she joined the agency nearly four decades ago.
“It’s hard to believe so much has changed,” she said. “The work I’m doing today is considerably different.”
Hedges praised the agency’s board of directors, county staff and supervisors for supporting efforts to build and maintain the infrastructure needed to keep the system functioning now and into the future.
She singled out the agency’s staff.
“[Northern Virginia] relies on a water system they can trust. Our team works around the clock to make that happen. They are the heart of Fairfax Water,” Hedges said.
She particularly praised efforts to protect the Occoquan watershed, which combines with the Potomac River to serve as the two main water sources for Northern Virginia.
“Safeguarding it has required vision, persistence and leadership,” Hedges said.
County supervisors and the Fairfax Water Board held a joint meeting on June 2 to discuss relevant topics, including the stability of water supplies, removal of the last lead pipes in the network and the issue of “forever chemicals” in drinking water.
At the July 14 ceremony, Herrity suggested county residents watch the meeting to get a better idea of the agency’s work.
