In approving the pump station location change on Jan. 20, the Board of Supervisors agreed that Fluvanna would pay the full costs associated with the decision. Usually JRWA expenses are borne equally by Fluvanna and Louisa.
Supervisors voted unanimously Wednesday afternoon (June 1) to take $525,039 out of their uncommitted fund balance and turn it over to the JRWA to fund the change.
Last year Seay led a successful charge to have the pump station’s proposed location moved off her land at Point of Fork. But the “Save the Point” campaign failed in that the pump station’s new location, on Hammond’s property, is still on the Point of Fork.
“Save the Point” drew support from history buffs and nature lovers alike, who decried placing a pump station on the iconic and historic piece of land at the confluence of the James and Rivanna Rivers.
The half-million dollar price tag for moving the pump station comes from $159,775 worth of new site survey work, $265,264 in additional pump station construction costs, and $100,000 to realign the path of the raw water line.
The pump station will funnel water out of the James River and into a pipeline that will carry it northeast through Fluvanna into Louisa, then eventually to Zion Crossroads.
Excluding the half-million dollar payment, Fluvanna’s share of the JRWA costs is currently estimated to be about $4.5 million. Moving the pump station, therefore, increased the cost of the James River pipeline to Fluvanna by about 12 percent.
Supervisor Tony O’Brien briefly protested the price of moving the pump station. O’Brien and Supervisor Mozell Booker voted last year for the pipeline with the pump station in its original location on Seay’s land. No other supervisors commented.
County Administrator Steve Nichols said the pump station’s location change shouldn’t delay the project from being completed in 2018 as expected. Louisa has promised to “make all reasonable efforts” to provide Fluvanna with up to 400,000 gallons of water per day at Zion Crossroads by Dec. 31, 2018.
