This week, hundreds of volunteers will fan out and dig in to help improve area waterways. Blackwater Creek is the target of this year’s Extreme Stream Makeover, a project sponsored by the James River Association.

Planning and design work for the U.S. 460 water line in Appomattox County is steaming along as supervisors this week approved land purchases for the 7.5-mile project.

In the hierarchy of human needs, the bladder always outranks the stomach. Hunger, after all, can wait patiently for hours — even days — before being satisfied. An urgent need for bathroom facilities is another matter.

A Smith Mountain Lake resort community is preparing to build a waterfront condominium complex with what it bills as affordable offerings.

Demolition and groundwork have begun at the site of Lynchburg’s second Wal-Mart super center.

Appomattox County supervisors have decided to start the process of forming a public service authority to manage the county’s planned water system.

Lynchburg College hopes to provide a better understanding of water quality issues both locally and across the state through a three-part lecture series starting tonight.

Questions have been raised in recent years about the amount of water available for Town of Appomattox customers through its aging municipal well system, which has been stressed by drought and over-pumping.

The day a James River intake valve on an emergency pipeline opened in fall 2002, Amherst County’s reservoir had about a 30-day supply of usable water.

If the Otter River watershed doesn’t get a significant amount of rain within the next 10 days, public water users in the northern end of Campbell County could be supplied by the James River.

Bedford County is one of the fastest growing localities in the state, with three major areas seeing unprecedented development.

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.

Increased demand and a lowering Pedlar Reservoir are why Lynchburg has started tapping the James River for water, weeks earlier than usual.

In 1812, a system of three-inch wooden pipes formed Lynchburg’s first water system, which was privately owned by city founder John Lynch.

Mike Futrell likes to tell a fish story when he explains the infrastructure that serves the area’s public water needs: