County Supervisors re-explore Regional Water Authority dynamics, cite potential benefits for Town and County

The day after learning what its post-2021 roster will be with two members not having run for re-election, the Warren County Board of Supervisors convened for a light agenda meeting, a lengthy Closed/Executive Session discussion of EDA-related litigation and related matters, and coming electoral redistricting, before concluding with a one-topic work session on Wednesday morning, November 3.

That work session topic may have held the day’s most long-term interest for the county’s future. At the request of outgoing Happy Creek District Supervisor Tony Carter (to be replaced in January by “Jay” Butler; with Vicky Cook in for Archie Fox in the Fork), the board revisited what it hopes will be a joint initiative exploration with the Town of Front Royal of joining a regional water authority spearheaded by the existing Frederick County Water Authority, and also involving Clarke County.

Former (1994-2002) Front Royal town councilman Tony Carter believes the Town could find multiple benefits from joining a regional water authority and could help set parameters on northside infrastructure development from getting in early with the County. Royal Examiner Photos by Roger Bianchini

“I can’t speak for the Town, obviously, but I think they should be part of this conversation. On one hand, to me it seems like it would be well worth them exploring the opportunity to partner up and become part of the regional water authority because that does give them an additional source of water from the north end,” Carter said in explaining his asking the topic be brought back to another work session.

As previously reported, the Frederick Water Authority, which is an independent entity whose board is appointed by the Frederick County Board of Supervisors, has ground sources of water and perpetual storage rights cited at 4 billion gallons, enough to give its current user base a year of backup water supply. The EPA cites 21 days of backup as a standard, while “most communities hope for 3-5 days of storage” Frederick Water Authority Executive Director Eric Lawrence told county officials on October 12.

Frederick Water Authority Executive Director Eric Lawrence gave the Warren supervisors some astonishing numbers on water access and storage rights, summarized below (4BG stands for 4 Billion Gallons), on Oct. 12. Some Town staff were present to hear the presentation, though no town elected officials were despite being invited, due to conflicting work session scheduling.

Front Royal’s water utility draws its entire water supply from the Shenandoah River, which is drawn from by multiple municipal sources and faces pollution issues from time to time, temporarily limiting water utility access. Carter noted that there are many questions to be asked and answered as to how joining a regional water authority would impact the Town’s central water utility service. But the answers could be beneficial to the Town, Carter said, potentially spreading Town system costs across a broader support base and ultimately leading to lower operational, as well as customer, costs.

And the Town’s current commercial-industrial customer base in the county’s north corridor to Fairgrounds Road would be protected by the Route 522/340 Corridor Agreement, Carter pointed out of the 1990s document. How service would be provided to commercial-industrial or residential growth north of Fairgrounds Road was one of those questions still to be answered, but one that could likely be negotiated to everyone’s benefit, Carter surmised. Having served on the Front Royal Town Council for 7-1/2 years (7-1-94 to 1-1-02) before resigning after being elected to the county board when the Town still had May elections, Carter has a fairly broad perspective on how the Corridor Agreement facilitating the extension of Front Royal’s water utility into the county without annexation evolved.

From the start of the process Warren County Board Chair Cheryl Cullers has been a strong proponent of a joint Town-County exploration of joining a regional water authority to a mutual municipal benefit.

County Board Chair Cullers agreed that a joint exploration of the regional option was the best path forward. Her major concern for the existing Town water system was how much backup supply it has that could cover maintaining the water supply, particularly to the Dominion Power Plant, which is dependent on a large water supply to fuel its cooling system. The regional option could expand the available backup in such an emergency, and perhaps reduce the cost of the redundant water line the Town is now planning for the north corridor, Cullers suggested.

“One of the biggest things that’s come out of this is to get the Town and the County talking totally about this water – because without (that discussion) it’s not going to happen,” Shenandoah District Supervisor Walt Mabe surmised, drawing Cullers’ agreement.

See the discussion in its entirety in the County meeting/work session video, beginning at the 1-hour-10-minute-25-second mark.