Bedford County Board of Supervisors Commit to Land Transfer

Bedford County Board of Supervisors Commit to Land Transfer

November 10, 2011

10/11/2011

​On a motion made by Supervisor Dale Wheeler on Tuesday night, the Bedford County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of granting land to the Bedford County Public Service Authority (“BCPSA”). The Authority has requested the Board of Supervisors transfer 50 acres in and around where the Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority formerly operated the Moneta Adult Detention Center (aka “Camp24”) to the BCPSA as a site for a potential regional water treatment plant.

“Gaining the Camp24 land will allow for the Authority to proceed with the planning needed to ensure an adequate supply of water is available for the region for many years to come,” said Brian Key, Executive Director of the BCPSA. “A new water treatment plant situated at Camp24 would further our mission in providing ‘clean, high quality water services…when and where economically possible’ to the citizens in our area.”

The BCPSA is requesting this land based upon the results of a commissioned site selection study completed in December 2010, which evaluated the best future locations for withdrawing water from Smith Mountain Lake and for constructing a new water treatment plant. The study showed that the Camp24 property would be the best location for a new water treatment plant, while utilizing the existing withdrawal location at the lake. The entire study can be downloaded from www.bcpsa.com/studies.

The existing site of the current water treatment plant is near capacity, and the demand for water from the plant continues to increase, therefore, a Preliminary Engineering Report “PER” was completed by the BCPSA in June 2011 to evaluate the future capacity needs for water treated from Smith Mountain Lake. The PER shows that the existing water treatment plant is not adequate to provide for the long term needs of the County, and thus recommends that plans be made for the construction of a new plant which will require additional land. This report can also be downloaded from www.bcpsa.com/studies.

The water treatment plant that would be situated on this requested land would be adequately sized to not only provide water to the BCPSA’s Lakes service area, but also to provide for the needs of Franklin County that are served by the Western Virginia Water Authority (“WVWA”).

Key states, “The WVWA is a valued customer, purchasing water for Franklin County’s area around the lake; they have also partnered with the BCPSA in this planning for the future needs for the area.”

In addition, the proposed plant would also allow for providing a source of water for the future Town of Bedford. The reversion agreement, executed between Bedford County and the City of Bedford, stipulates that a redundant source needs to be completed before December 31, 2016; in order to meet this schedule with the water coming from Smith Mountain Lake, the planning and design work needs to begin in the very near future. Wheeler stated that this new water treatment plant “was vital” for the long term needs of the area, and that he felt it was important for the County to support this project.

Click here to download the press release.