Canary in the Underwater Coal Mine?

8 Responses to “Canary in the Underwater Coal Mine?”

• TheCowSaysMoo

  August 27, 2008 at 9:08 am

  Jerry Stenger of the University of Virginia Climatology Office said that if there were no more rain this month, it would be the area’s driest August since 1912.

  Apparently, somebody doesn’t keep up with large low pressure systems heading towards the area. Kind of ironic that he’s from the U.Va. Climatology Office.

  Anyhow, it’s not terribly surprising that this sort of thing happened. I would actually be surprised if it was the last incident.

  I hiked Jones Run in Shenandoah National Park recently and the waterfall at the end was barely a trickle.
• Hawkins Dale

  August 27, 2008 at 9:44 am

  I lived in Earlysville Forest in ’03 and ’04. We were FREQUENTLY without water, and not because there wasn’t any, but because of defective equipment, poorly managed.

  I don’t doubt that the water table is low. But given the history of the plant, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was silliness involved.
• Lonnie

  August 27, 2008 at 9:55 am

  There’s actually this whole trend in Albemarle of building subdivisions first and seeing if there is water after the fact. I’ve heard of others that periodically have had issues too, including Peacock Hill in Ivy.

  It seems kind of obvious to me that if there isn’t water, then you shouldn’t build anything that requires it. As a gardener it would be like me planting lily pads in the middle of the desert.
• Lonnie

  August 27, 2008 at 11:48 am

  Speaking of water shortages, check this out from Charlottesville Tomorrow:

  During consideration of the ACSA’s financial report from July 2008, Clarence Roberts (Rivanna) was concerned about a discrepancy between the amount of water that the ACSA purchases from the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority (RWSA) and the amount it sells to its customers. By his estimate, the ACSA has lost over 500 million gallons (MGD) over the last year…
• Perlogik

  August 29, 2008 at 8:54 am

  Peacock Hill was built over 20 years ago and told it would not be connected to the ACSA water system. They have tried to be connected on numerous times. The answer from the BOS has always been no.

  They paid their money and took there chance. Planning is also much different now than then.

  As for the lost gallons, that is concerning and interesting- some answers there would be welcome
• Cville Eye

  August 30, 2008 at 10:56 pm

  Personally, I have no problem with people wanting to build houses if there is no water. People ahul in water all over the place. Parts of California get their water from the Colorado River. Maybe they need to buy water from the RWSA and haul it in from the South Rork. Or maybe they can haul it in from the Ragged Mountain.
• Waldo Jaquith

  August 31, 2008 at 9:59 am

  The difficulty is that people don’t build houses without water. People build houses when there is water, and when water ceases to be available, it becomes a serious problem. On any significant scale, that can be a source of real health and safety problems.
• Cville Eye

  August 31, 2008 at 1:27 pm

  That has been part of the history of a great many people who have wells. Sometimes they have to spend a lot of money digging a deeper well or digging a new one.