Water Resources In Fluvanna County

Present Conditions and Recommendations for Preservation and Restoration

Summary Findings and Recommendations

The funding available to complete the 604(b) Fluvanna County Water Quality Management Plan was sufficient for Phase One of the project to be fully completed. Phase Two work, completed by Timmons for the engineering portion of the study, was funded by Fluvanna County. The study is completed in two documents: Timmons, Water and Wastewater Preliminary Engineering Report and Facilities Master Plan, and this document Water Resources in Fluvanna County. Both documents are being presented to the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors to assist them in decision-making for future water and waste water projects. Each portion of the study is complete in itself, though the two documents complement each other with different aspects of water quality management being explored.

Groundwater is the major current source of drinking water for the county residents and it is important to understand the limits of this resource as well as limitations to its use and actions that can be taken to protect the groundwater resource. Given the rural nature of Fluvanna County and the commitment of the Board of Supervisors to maintaining a rural character, the staff believes it is important to protect this resource, particularly in areas not feasible to be served with public water supplies.

Additional information is included in this document relative to water quality. The TJPDC has been involved with an analysis of conditions in the Rivanna River Basin and published a 604(b) funded report entitled State of the Rivanna River Basin, 1998. This study has been presented to the Board of Supervisors, the Planning Commission, and various civic groups in the County. The study provided a great deal of information about water quality in the Rivanna River, which is used in this document. The study also found a great deal of information that was not available and the call for data development is repeated here to reinforce the need for adequate data for decision making and protection of the water. This takes on additional importance as Fluvanna County considers using the Rivanna for a drinking water source.

As a result of work conducted in preparing data for this report, the Fluvanna County Health Department now has a computerized hydrogeologic database on which to build. Maintaining an on-going information bank will be useful to the County in future water and wastewater planning. This layer of information will be compatible to most Geographic Information Systems available to the County in the future as well.

The limitations of the project suggest additional studies to be undertaken or completed as time and resources permit. Several of the suggested activities could be accomplished by state agencies and their coordination of information development and recording of same.

Findings:

Water Quality

In good weather, the water quality in the streams in Fluvanna is good. However, in high flows due to storms, the water quality is lowered by high levels of phosphorus, total suspended solids, and fecal coliform. Phosphorus and total suspended solids threaten aquatic life. Fecal coliform is a human health hazard. In more detail, the findings are:

• Several stations along the Rivanna have readings of pH lower than the 6.5-8.5 range for drinking water; the Hardware River readings are sometimes well above this range. However, mean readings all fall within the standard. pH is important for fish habitat, shad preferring the lower range. High readings could be from contamination and cause corrosion and release of metals from plumbing pipes.
• No low measurements of dissolved oxygen or high measurements of ammonia/ammonium concentration, nitrate and nitrite concentrations were found.
• Phosphorus concentrations have exceed DEQ standards at all test sites during storm flow. This is of concern and should be addressed due to the possibility of algal blooms and eutrophication. Eutrophication is the overgrowth of plants which lowers the dissolved oxygen levels, making it less habitable to fish and animal life. Sources include agricultural and urban land uses as well as sewage treatment plant discharge.
• All stations exceeded the maximum fecal coliform level during storm flows. While many sources are possible, they are not known at this time.
• The two Rivanna stations recorded high turbidity, or particles in the water, which has a negative effect on plants and filter feeders, such as mussels. Storm flow readings of Total Suspended Solids all also exceeded recommended limits recommended for shad; three stations exceeded limits for all fish.
• Acid groundwater and fecal coliform contamination of groundwater are likely widespread problems throughout the County, based on information from the volunteer testing program.
• All major watersheds in Fluvanna have, on average, adequate forest cover as identified through the Virginia Gap Analysis Project. Forests are the best cleansers of surface water runoff.
• None of the watersheds contain significant percentages of disturbed land; most of the developed land is around Lake Monticello.
• The amount of impervious surface in the area around Lake Monticello causes the area to be at risk for degradation of the water from runoff.
• Eight Class 1 watersheds were designated High Priority due to nutrient loading and/or amounts of wetlands and/or presence of Natural Heritage listed species.
• A significant number of abandoned mining sites are located in the County which could cause water quality problems in the future.

Groundwater

Groundwater availability and vulnerability to contamination is determined by factors related to soils, saprolite (weathered rock), and bedrock geology.

• In general, the western portion of Fluvanna County is less favorable in terms of groundwater productivity than the rest of the County
• Underlying bedrock types in the Bremo Bluff-Fork Union-Columbia area and northeast of Palmyra are the most productive types of bedrock in terms of groundwater productivity. These areas may contain open fractures with substantial groundwater reserves at depths of 1,000 feet or more.
• On average, there is ample thickness of saprolite in Fluvanna County for purposes of groundwater storage and sanitary drain field siting. Given variations of soils, rock, and saprolite, consideration of each site may yield different answers to groundwater availability and vulnerability, and drain field capacity.
• Groundwater recharge areas are best protected by mature forest land cover.

Recommendations

Incorporate the following goals in the Comprehensive Plan currently being developed for Fluvanna County:

1. Protect and maintain the water quality of Fluvanna County' streams and rivers;
2. Protect and maintain the water quality in Fluvanna County' groundwater supply areas; and
3. Protect and maintain the water quality in present and future Fluvanna county impoundments.

Develop a water resources protection plan for Fluvanna County which addresses use of stream buffers, control of storm water, creation of protection zones for wells and surface water, and other specific items put forth in Chapter 3 of this report, which is ultimately incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan.

Explore the development of a geologic/soils based zoning and development program.

Establish a working relationship with state and local monitoring agencies to ensure that monitoring is coordinated, reported to a centralized, accessible data base, with an emphasis on testing for fecal coliforms, contamination from old mine sites, pH, phosphorus, and total suspended solids, identifying sources as specifically as possible.

Establish a groundwater hydrogeologic testing program to ascertain the effects of new wells on existing wells. This is particularly important when approving new subdivisions which will be dependent on groundwater. Incorporate data from all hydrogeologic tests performed in the County into the hydrogeologic database.

Establish a County-wide geographic information system (GIS) which will incorporate the mapping products of this study. Build on this system by acquiring digital soils maps, and developing water quality and other spatial data layers.

Require that new wells be precisely located, using Global Positioning System (GPS) and, that "dry holes" drilled in the process of locating groundwater be located with GPS and reported to the Health Department.

Work with upstream localities to insure the quality of the water flowing through Fluvanna County.

Perform additional testing to ascertain the sources of fecal coliforms, particularly at the Leslie site.

Incorporate citizen education and participation processes in implementing this study.