Two water authorities serving customers in three counties say a jointly owned and operated water treatment plant at Smith Mountain Lake should meet their needs for decades to come. They signed the papers this week to make it happen, as WFIR’s Evan Jones reports.
(Continue reading for the full news release.)
From the Western Virginia Water Authority: For the first time in Virginia, two water utilities have partnered to jointly own and operate a water treatment facility. The Bedford Regional Water Authority and the Western Virginia Water Authority signed an agreement Wednesday, May 7, 2014 to work together to develop a new water treatment facility at Smith Mountain Lake. This new facility will be designed with expansion capabilities to meet both utilities joint water needs through the year 2060. Under the partnership concept, the two authorities will equally share the ownership and the operation of the new Smith Mountain Lake Water Treatment Plant.
Initial plans for the new facility, anticipated to be operational by the end of December 2016, are to construct a 4-million gallon per day treatment facility that could be expanded to 6-million gallons per day within the framework of the new building. The existing facility, owned by BRWA, is a 1-million gallon per day facility of which 400,000-gallons per day are allocated to the Western Virginia Water Authority.
The Long Range Water Supply Plan, completed in 2010 in conjunction with the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission, recommended expanding the treatment and distribution of drinking water from Smith Mountain Lake to meet the growing water needs within the region by 2060. This new facility will allow for the drinking water needs of current and future customer to be met.
