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Fairfax Water is joining a $25 million regional effort to find a large-scale emergency alternative to the Potomac River as drought, contamination and infrastructure failures threaten the reliability of the D.C. area’s primary water source.
The utility will participate with Maryland’s WSSC Water and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the two-year “Secure the Source” study. The goal is to identify a backup capable of supplying water for several weeks to more than 5 million residents who currently depend on the Potomac.
Fairfax Water spokesperson Susan Miller said the project is intended to strengthen the region against both a contamination-related loss of the river and the growing risk of drought. The collaboration will help utilities assess long-term threats and prepare for a future in which the Potomac may not always be available.
The study will give regional officials technical, environmental and engineering information to help select the most viable option for long-term water security.
Three alternatives previously screened by the Army Corps will be examined: Maryland’s Travilah Quarry, an advanced water-reuse system at the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant in Washington, and Luck Stone’s quarries B and C in Virginia.
Once a preferred alternative is identified, regional leaders would need to coordinate efforts to secure federal, state and local funding for its design and construction.
The study follows a regional drought watch that renewed questions in Fairfax County about whether the Potomac can satisfy long-term demand. Other recent events, including fuel spills, sewage-system failures and the January collapse of DC Water’s Potomac Interceptor pipe, have added urgency to those concerns.
A December report from the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin warned of a growing likelihood that the river will eventually be unable to meet demand while still providing enough water to protect aquatic life.
Fairfax Water serves about 2.2 million customers across Northern Virginia. Its water comes from the Potomac River and the Occoquan Reservoir, which is supplied by the Occoquan River. During droughts in the Potomac watershed, the region can also draw on stored water from facilities including the Jennings Randolph Reservoir.
Miller said increasingly unpredictable weather makes historical trends less dependable for estimating river flows, drought timing and the severity of dry periods. That uncertainty, she said, strengthens the case for a reliable secondary supply.
Fairfax Water is also developing a separate source on Fairfax County’s southern border. A quarry in Lorton is scheduled to become the Steven T. Edgemon Reservoir, named for the utility’s former general manager.
Water is expected to begin filling part of the quarry in 2040 after operations there conclude. The remainder will be filled after quarrying ends across the rest of the property in 2085.
When complete, the reservoir is expected to hold as much as 17 billion gallons, giving the region additional capacity to handle rising demand and potentially prolonged droughts.