Otter River ample for Campbell

During the worst of 2002’s drought, Campbell County and Lynchburg utility workers readied water pipe connections to ensure, if needed, the city could provide an uninterrupted supply.

Even though Campbell County’s primary water source, the Otter River, reached record lows, the utility authority still was able to supply its several thousand users without relying on Lynchburg.

“We never turned that valve,” Campbell County Utilities and Service Authority director Mike Damron said. “There was enough flow in the river to supply our needs.”

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Compared to the mighty James, which can have a billion gallons flowing past the city per day, the Otter River may seem small, with about 200 million gallons per day flowing past the Evington filtration plant. The county pulls about 1.5 million gallons per day from the river, which is pumped throughout the pipe network to Timberlake, Rustburg and eventually on up to Concord.

The county also has several interconnections with Bedford County. It sold water to many Forest customers before a deal with Lynchburg was expanded.

But can all that water support future growth?

A draft of the Region 2000 water management plan shows that if the county continues selling water at its current rate with no additional in-county sources, Campbell will have a supply deficit in about 45 years.

That’s “not really” a concern to Damron because the county can just purchase whatever additional water it needs from Lynchburg, which holds the right to a fifth of the water in the James River as it flows past the city — a rough average of 400 million gallons per day based on U.S. Geological Survey data.

But if the county stops selling water at its current rate, it will be able to provide enough water from existing in-county sources beyond 2060, the target year set by the water management plan.

“We are a water-rich region and we’re getting the ability to transfer water over multiple jurisdictions,” Damron said. “With that type of flexibility, we are less dependent on one particular source or supply. If one source has trouble for one reason or another, we have and are obtaining an ability to transport water from one destination to another.”

Tapping that richness within the county would require some new infrastructure. There have been discussions about withdrawing water from the Staunton River or Leesville Lake, Damron said.

Campbell County already purchases about a half million gallons per day from Lynchburg to serve customers along a short stretch of U.S. 460 and out Mt. Athos Road, Damron said. Most of that water goes to the Babcock & Wilcox Company plant.

The county’s Otter River withdrawal permit is for six million gallons per day, though the Evington filtration plant can only process three million gallons per day. Current peak usage on heavy demand days is a little more than two million gallons.

A proposed waterline extending from Concord to the town of Appomattox could pull an additional 250,000 to 300,000 gallons per day from the Otter River, but that amount is a drop in the bucket compared to the river’s capacity, Damron said.

Currently the Otter River serves about 7,000 customers, including homes and business. The county has another 200 users in Concord that use well water. They will be switched to Otter River water once a pipeline now under construction along Virginia 24 to Concord Elementary School is complete.

County planners and supervisors ultimately make the decision for where new infrastructure should go, and that will be crucial to how the river fuels growth.

“If you put waterlines and sewer lines everywhere, that’s just going to spur growth,” Damron said.

Growth isn’t necessarily bad from a water manager’s perspective because ultimately the authority is in the business of selling water.

“From the utility standpoint, the amount of water we withdraw is a very small fraction of the capability of our resources in most cases. Some are less than other,” Damron said. “We are in the business to sell water and we sell water as our customers need or demand, except under extreme circumstances.”