Fairfax Water still intends to build a bigger water tank in Poplar Heights, but the new facility might be less visible than the Idylwood neighborhood’s residents feared.
After being challenged at a lengthy public hearing in July, the water authority revised its lighting, landscaping and construction plans enough to win the Fairfax County Planning Commission’s support for the project last Wednesday (Sept. 11).
Northbound South George Mason Drive in Bailey’s Crossroads has been closed for over 12 hours due to a major water main break.
The Fairfax County Police Department reported the break near 7313 South George Mason Drive near Route 7 (Leesburg Pike) in the Skyline neighborhood at 9:39 p.m. yesterday (Tuesday). Water can be seen gushing up from under the street in a video shared by the department.
Complaints from Herndon residents about a pungent odor from the James Corbalis Water Treatment Plant have led Fairfax County officials to consider diverting the wastewater into the sewer system.
Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman explained at a Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday (Tuesday) that the issue began several weeks ago when rising algae levels in the Potomac River led to more organic matter being discharged into a state-permitted tributary of Sugarland Run, resulting in the unpleasant odor.
Fairfax Water’s plan to update and expand the water tank that serves much of Idylwood and Pimmit Hills has run into strong opposition from many residents of the single-family neighborhood that surrounds the site.
Resident after resident testified at a Fairfax County Planning Commission public hearing last Wednesday (July 24) that replacing the existing 700,000-gallon Poplar Heights tank with the 1.25-million-gallon tank proposed by the water authority will irrevocably damage their community and quality of life.
Fairfax Water customers weren’t affected by the recent Boil Water Advisory that went out to D.C. and Arlington County residents before Independence Day.
The utility, which serves almost 2 million people in Northern Virginia, suspended its use of the Washington Aqueduct early on Wednesday (July 3) before the advisory was issued later that day. Though D.C. and Arlington both lifted the advisory yesterday (Thursday), Fairfax Water says it hasn’t yet resumed getting water from the aqueduct.
Scott’s Run Nature Preserve will reopen tomorrow (Friday), just in time for Memorial Day, after an extended emergency closure, the Fairfax County Park Authority announced today.
The popular McLean park has been closed since late March so that crews could remove an estimated 80 tons of sediment from wastewater pipes and make necessary repairs.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has asked CSX Transportation to share the load when it comes to moving sewer infrastructure affected by its plans for a third passenger rail line connecting Franconia and Lorton.
Last week, the board unanimously approved a letter to the North American rail company urging it to assist with relocating several sanitary sewers at risk of contamination during the construction of the Virginia Railway Express rail line.
Fox Mill Road will be closed at the beginning of next month to allow for a pipe replacement.
Virginia Department of Transportation crews are replacing a drainage pipe, prompting the closure between Pinecrest Road and John Milton Drive in Herndon on Monday, April 1 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
(Updated at 3:30 p.m. on 3/29/2024) Clogged-up pipes will force Scott’s Run Nature Preserve to close for more than a month, starting later this week.
Contractors will begin work on the “emergency project” to clear and repair wastewater pipes in the McLean park this Thursday (March 28), the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services recently announced.
A water tank erected in Idylwood around the time of the Korean War is on its last legs, Fairfax Water says.
The water authority is seeking to replace the 71-year-old Poplar Heights tank with a bigger, elevated tank that will be able to hold approximately 1.25 million gallons of water, according to an application submitted in December to Fairfax County’s planning department.
