Summer in Fairfax County means a break from school, an abundance of outdoor music options and, in recent years, the return of the spotted lanternflies.
The invasive insects started to reemerge earlier this month, but they are still in their young “nymph” stage, resembling small beetles with white spots on their black bodies instead of the larger, winged form they take as adults, according to the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES).
Fairfax Water’s efforts to reduce the amount of “forever chemicals” known as PFAS in local drinking water come with “potentially significant costs,” Fairfax County supervisors were told on Tuesday (June 2).
“PFAS, from where I sit, is going to be a generational issue,” said Jamie Bain Hedges, general manager of the water utility, during the 90-minute meeting between the Board of Supervisors and the Fairfax Water Board.
With the D.C. metro area now back under a regional drought watch, local officials have raised concerns about the ability of the Potomac River to meet the region’s long-term water needs.
An increasing population, proliferation of data centers, climate change and the possibility of accidents closing access to the river’s water are all threats, according to the general manager of Fairfax Water.
Fairfax Water is on track to fully eliminate the last lead pipes from its network in advance of a 2027 federal deadline.
“We’ll have them replaced by the end of the year,” Fairfax Water general manager Jamie Bain Hedges said at a meeting yesterday (Tuesday) between the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and water authority board members.
Land in Lorton that once served as a waste disposal site has been transformed into Fairfax County’s largest solar power project so far.
After about a year of construction, a completed 5-megawatt solar array now sits on 37 acres in a closed portion of the I-95 Landfill Complex at 9850 Furnace Road, the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES) announced Wednesday (May 19).
Fairfax County supervisors saluted the Garden Club of Fairfax on May 5 for its members’ efforts over the past century.
“Thank you for all you do in our community,” said Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman, who sponsored the centennial resolution while acknowledging that he, unlike club members, lacked a green thumb.
The end is within sight for Fairfax County’s nearly decade-long push to convert all streetlights to more energy efficient LED fixtures.
Dominion Energy, which owns, operates and maintains about 96% of the county’s 60,000 streetlights, has upgraded approximately 93% or 52,100 of them to LED, as of March, the county announced earlier this week.
The environment will take center stage across Fairfax County over the next two days, thanks to an abundance of Arbor Day and Earth Day festivities.
The county’s headliner is the annual Earth Day Fairfax festival, which has relocated to Lake Fairfax Park (1400 Lake Fairfax Drive) in Reston this year after previously taking place at the Sully Historic Site in Chantilly.
Opponents of the proposed Cinder Bed Road Bikeway found a captive audience at the April 11 dedication of the Franconia Governmental Center.
“The lines of citizens waiting outside to get in gave us protesters the opportunity to open discussions about the Bikeway,” said Philip Latasa, who helped organize the public information rally at the new government facility at 7130 Silver Lake Blvd.
Fairfax County staff have revised language in the proposed Active Transportation and Trails Plan in an effort to smooth out friction between advocates for pedestrians/bicyclists and environmental issues.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission on Wednesday night (March 18) reviewed the proposed changes and recommended approval of the new plan by the Board of Supervisors when the issue is addressed in May.
