http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler stories of landscapes, conservation, and people in and beyond the Rivanna Watershed Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:11:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 © lmiddleton@embarqmail.com () lmiddleton@embarqmail.com() stories of landscapes, conservation, and people in and beyond the Rivanna Watershed lmiddleton@embarqmail.com No no http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler 144 144 http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/11/29/113-thanksgiving-for-drinking-water/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/11/29/113-thanksgiving-for-drinking-water/#comments Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:05:06 +0000 admin http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/11/29/113-thanksgiving-for-drinking-water/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/11/29/113-thanksgiving-for-drinking-water/feed/ 0 5:14 November 27, 2008 Walking through the South Fork Rivanna Water Treatment Plant brings a new appreciation for what it takes to turn river water into potable, ... November 27, 2008 Walking through the South Fork Rivanna Water Treatment Plant brings a new appreciation for what it takes to turn river water into potable, safe drinking water. This show originally aired on November 27, 2007 on ldquo;The Rivanna Rambler,rdquo; a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net. In late 1620, the God-fearing and intrepid band of Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower, first stepped on the outer shores of Cape Cod ndash; close, but not quite there, in their search for a home and religious freedom in the New World.nbsp; After an arduous 2-month voyage across the Atlantic, their stores of fresh water ndash; and more importantly, the cider and beer on which most people relied for drink -- were precariously low. It took several forays down the sandy arm of the Cape to find rivers that spilled fresh water hellip; and eventually, when they moved the Mayflower to what is now known as Plymouth Harbor, it was chosen as much for its protection from Cape Cod Bay as for thenbsp; fresh water flowing in to it from the Jones River and a "very sweet brook" that flowed beside the landing rock, a brook that William Bradford wrote had as "good water as can be drunk."nbsp; He describe the water as "sweet," perhaps an adjective hard for us to appreciate in our modern day, unless we remember that by the 1600s, many rivers ndash; and city streets in the Old World ndash; were already fouled by sewage and what we would today call gray-water from bathing and laundering -- and were anything but sweet or safe to drink. For our Thanksgiving gatherings today, perhaps the one thing on the table that costs little in money or time to prepare is the water that fills our drinking glasses.nbsp; As a City resident, I get my water from the tap, with a simple turn of the wrist.nbsp; I do pay a monthly bill for this service (so it is not exactly "free").nbsp; Ad because I recently had the privilege of touring the South Fork Rivanna Water Treatment Plant, I now know a little more of what goes in to making the water safe for me to drink and cook with. Our tour, led by David Golladay, deputy manager water operations for the RWSA, starts outside in the chill bright air that has us all hugging ourselves for warmth as we walk the various stations of treatment.nbsp; Raw water from the reservoir is pumped uphill to the treatment facility where it travels through a series of 100-foot long settling basins for processes that remove the organics and dirt that give it the dense green -brown color of raw.nbsp; It's a mini-lesson in chemistry, as we learn how aluminum sulfate and other compounds are added to encourage the unwanted particles to clump together like small gauzy patches of snow and settle to the bottom.nbsp; As the water moves to other basins, long vacuum units remove what is now called sludge and send it down the hill to a dewatering facility that wrings out every last bit of moisture.nbsp; Eventually, the partially treated water moves inside and under cover, where it is dosed a second time with lime to adjust the pH, and where small amounts of chlorine and fluoride are added for our health and inhibitors added to reduce corrosion from the various piping systems it will eventually travel.nbsp; The treated water takes a final pass through filter basins made of crushed stone, sand, and coal, to capture any remaining impurities.nbsp; The result is water that regularly exceeds the Federal safe drinking water standards. All of these processes are overseen by one water treatment operator at the plant aided by modern electronics that provide closed circuit TV, automated and electronically controlled actuators for mixing and for analyzing water quality, pressure head, and flow through the various stages of treatment.nbsp; This plant treats 12 million gallons a day and sends it into the vast distribution network that delivers the water, on demand, 24 ndash;7 to homes and businesses like... Albemarle,County,,Charlottesville,,Rivanna,River,,South,Fork,,Water,Conservation,,Water,Quality,,Water,Supply lmiddleton@embarqmail.com no No http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/05/16/88-questions-about-the-water-supply-plan/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/05/16/88-questions-about-the-water-supply-plan/#comments Fri, 16 May 2008 23:19:54 +0000 admin http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/05/16/88-questions-about-the-water-supply-plan/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/05/16/88-questions-about-the-water-supply-plan/feed/ 2 00:01:01 May 15, 2008 This show originally aired on May 15, 2008 on ldquo;The Rivanna Rambler,rdquo; a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. ... May 15, 2008 This show originally aired on May 15, 2008 on ldquo;The Rivanna Rambler,rdquo; a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net. The community water supply plan that is under question has been permitted, as it must be, by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality on February 11, 2008. That plan was approved unanimously by the City Council and Albemarle County Board of Supervisors in 2006. Because our area is not blessed by natural reservoirs, nor rivers whose flows are adequate at every time of the year to yield water for human use even at our present population, we rely on reservoirs to store water for times of scant rainfall and low flows. When our urban population was smaller in the late 1890's and early 1900's, the City of Charlottesville set aside land to create the first, and then subsequently expanded, Ragged Mountain Reservoir. This reservoir is unlike the South Fork in that it is not filled by a running river but rather by aging pipeline from the headwaters of the Rivanna, the North and South Forks of the Moormans River, now impounded by the Sugar Hollow dam. The Ragged Mountain reservoir has a watershed that is relatively small and does not appreciably contribute to the supply impounded in the reservoir. In addition, its slopes are completely forested except for I-64, which bisects the western portion of its watershed. The South Fork Reservoir was built in 1965 with no planning for periodic removal of sediment captured from upstream sources by some form of dredging. It is indeed a very good thing that the community is now waking up to a fact that residents adjacent to the South Fork, boaters and fishermen on its impounded waters, and watershed planners have long known: we have lost about a 1/3 of the storage capacity of this reservoir ndash;and annually this number is increasing and the storage capacity is decreasing. Mudflats impede UVA and community rowers in upstream bends in the river, every rain event brings another wedge of sediment laden water from up-watershed, attempts to travel up Ivy Creek by canoe from the Woodlands Road bridge can only take you so far before you are walking through soft mud. So people are asking ndash; why not just dredge the reservoir and restore its function to store the drinking water that we need? The answer depends upon whether or not you think that cost estimates from eager dredging companies are accurate enough on which to base a water supply. On whether or not you think that it is OK to chop down or inundate trees on land already set aside for the very purpose of storing water ndash; and that was timbered for profit by the City of Charlottesville as recently as the 1950s. Or whether or not we have any obligation to restore natural flows to the Moorman's River, a pristine, headwater stream known for its diversity of aquatic habitat. Or whether you question the numbers ndash; developed by engineers and planners and endorsed by the State of Virginia -- used to project human water usage for the next 50 years. Or whether you believe that dredging should be considered a maintenance task like the nutrient removal upgrades required for Moore Creek Treatment Plant, or other upgrades needed for O-Hill and South Fork water plants. Or whether you think ndash; or hope ndash; that our still growing population will find, collectively, the political and moral will to use water more smartly, and less, in the years to come, regardless of unpredictable changes in rainfall patterns wrought from climate change. Or whether perhaps this time ndash; some 50 years after the South Fork was built, we are entering a time of investment, much as our forebears found it necessary and unavoidable to do, and must plan for our and our children's future ndash; and knowing that it will be costly, we are still willing to bear that cost because it is the right thing to do. Albemarle,County,,Charlottesville,,Moormans,River,,Rivanna,River,,Sediment,,South,Fork,,Water,Conservation,,Water,Supply lmiddleton@embarqmail.com no No http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2007/11/29/51-shipboard-water-conservation/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2007/11/29/51-shipboard-water-conservation/#comments Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:19:00 +0000 admin http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/?p=17 http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2007/11/29/51-shipboard-water-conservation/feed/ 0