Town Poised to Take Next Step in Evaluating McKay Springs for Viability as a Potential Water Source

A variety of items faced the Front Royal Town Council on the evening of Monday, August 12, coming out of closed session at 7:15 p.m., in the Front Royal Town Hall at 102 East Main Street, including a resolution to participate in abating the opioid crisis as it specifically relates to the supermarket pharmacy Kroger Co., the results of a viewing committee on a proposed vacation of the Town’s right-of-way in an alley, and how best to honor former mayor John Marlow in the Main Street Gazebo area; but the item on the agenda that received the most extensive attention was McKay Springs as a potential water source for the Town.

The town council is preparing to begin a work session on Monday evening. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh.

The Town owns the property where McKay Springs is located. For the second time in a one-year period, the Town has been forced by drought conditions to enter a state of mandatory water conservation as the Shenandoah River, a vital water source, has been so drastically low. This situation has served to make the Town’s goal of identifying alternative water sources even more urgent. The question is whether McKay Springs could possibly be one such resource. In a presentation to the council, Stephen Steele of CHA Consulting Inc. gave them a picture of the evaluation he is prepared to execute and invited them to share what they hope to gain from the evaluation while putting other potential resources on their radar.

Stephen Steele of CHA Consulting Inc. engages the council in a discussion of McKay Springs as a potential water source.

The test for viability would determine whether McKay Springs is a site conducive to one or more wells. Steele explained that using surface water would be difficult as the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality only allows ten percent of the flow to be withdrawn due to its impact on the environment. However, if the water is intercepted before it reaches the surface, DEQ allows fifty-five percent to be taken. Thus, wells are a more viable option, which would be the focus of Steele’s evaluation. One of his concerns is whether the drilled wells are independent. In other words, “if they are interconnected and both tapping the same source, then you don’t really have two wells; you have two holes pulling from the same source of water.” Steele’s evaluation would determine whether the composition of McKay Springs is diverse enough to support multiple wells. The technique would involve geologic mapping and at a more advanced stage of evaluation, after the consultant has come back to the council, it would involve test wells, though Steele said that he hopes to be able to tell the council whether his analysis indicates the project would be fruitful before he drills the test wells.

Additionally, the town has several quarries that could be potential resources. They qualify as surface water but do not submit to the DEQ ten percent rule. “If you truly wanted to get a significantly robust alternative source,” Steele said, “this is the way that you would do that. We’re going to find out how much your wells will produce, and that may be more significant than we think,” but in his mind, the quarries are likely to be very fruitful. It was Town Manager Joe Waltz’s desire to raise this possibility to the council’s consciousness to make them aware that McKay Springs is not the only prospect that staff and the consultant are considering. Since the item had already been budgeted, no vote is required for Waltz and the company to go forward with the evaluation. He merely wanted the council to know that he was pulling the trigger.

At 8:10 p.m., the council went back into closed session.

Click here to watch the Front Royal Town Council Work Session of August 12, 2024.