cvillenews.com

The Albemarle County Planning Commission has signed off on a new ordinance that requires the drilling of a well prior to receiving a building permit. The idea is to ensure the availability of a decent supply of water before building commences, with builders of full-blown developments being required to present a groundwater management plan for the same reason. The hope is that, as builders install monitoring wells, a network of sites will be available for the county to study the groundwater levels across the county. As wells started to dry up during the 2002 drought, requiring the RSWA to create “doomsday plans”, it became clear that the availability of water was not something to be taken for granted in the development process. The ordinance awaits approval by the Board of Supervisors, who will take it up in August. David Dadurka has the story in today’s Progress.