Fairfax County’s drinking water utility is joining several D.C.-area organizations in a regional study to evaluate backup water supply alternatives to the Potomac River.
Fairfax Water is joining Maryland’s WSSC Water and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a $25 million “Secure the Source” study to explore potential large-scale alternatives that could provide several weeks of emergency backup water supply for over 5 million residents in the D.C. region currently served by the Potomac.
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.
A sewage spill in the Potomac River northwest of D.C. last week has not affected drinking water in Fairfax County, the local water utility says.
The spill occurred in Montgomery County, Maryland, along Clara Barton Parkway, which hugs the northern edge of the Potomac River near Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park. The spill was caused by a DC Water sewer pipe that collapsed late Monday, Jan. 19, shooting sewage out of the ground and into the river.
Fairfax Water has applied to replace an existing water tank in the Seven Corners Apartment complex (6122 Willston Drive).
The application, submitted on Nov. 24, requests that the county grant Fairfax Water the ability to replace a 75-year-old, 200,000-gallon water tank with a 1-million-gallon tank.
A new regional study warns that the D.C. area could face water shortages as early as 2030 if a severe drought hits.
The report, released by the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB) last Friday (Dec. 5), says shifting weather patterns and rising demand are putting increasing pressure on the region’s supply.
Northern Virginia’s wary embrace of data centers could have major long-term impacts on both water consumption and wastewater treatment across the region, the Fairfax County Environmental Quality Advisory Council (EQAC) says in its annual report for 2024.
The 134-page document offers a status update and recommendations on environmental issues, including land use, air and water quality, transportation, waste management, climate change and ecological conservation.
Fairfax Water has sent about 137,000 letters to customers to help determine whether their pipes might contain traces of lead.
The utility says its source water from the Potomac River and Occoquan Reservoir has no detectable lead and maintains it has “always been in compliance” with federal drinking water guidelines.
Officials at Fairfax Water are bracing for one-time and ongoing costs that could approach a half-billion dollars over the next decade to comply with new federal environmental regulations.
Unless workarounds are found, most of the costs of addressing the looming impact of chemicals known as PFAS will be borne by its customers, the agency’s head told the Board of Supervisors’ Environment Committee on Tuesday (Oct. 29).
