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Fairfax County leaders are urging Virginia to keep the Potomac River out of any state drought-emergency declaration, warning that statewide restrictions could disrupt the region’s carefully coordinated drinking-water system.
Northern Virginia remains under a drought watch. In response, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors authorized Chairman Jeff McKay to ask Gov. Abigail Spanberger for a Potomac exemption if the state declares a drought emergency.
Fairfax Water depends on the river for its drinking-water supply and also sells water to Loudoun Water. WSSC Water in Maryland and the Washington Aqueduct likewise rely on the Potomac, making it a critical source for communities across the region.
McKay said a Virginia-specific declaration could undermine drought planning coordinated by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. That regional plan accounts for the Potomac system’s upstream reservoirs and its watershed spanning multiple states, while a state declaration would consider only conditions within Virginia.
In his letter, McKay argued that a uniform statewide approach could impose unnecessary hardship on more than 2.2 million people, strain Northern Virginia’s economy and overlook the region’s infrastructure investments and operational capabilities.