Q: Are we still under water use restrictions?

A: Yes, we are still under water restrictions. Even though it is winter and water demand has dropped, the Dulles area finished 2007 in a 15 inch rain deficit.

Q: But, we've received a lot of rain lately. Didn’t that help?

A: There were days when we did receive some rain, and some snow, however, the amounts recorded were small compared to the amount of water we needed to pull from the Beaverdam Reservoir to supply Goose Creek. As of late January, we needed 27 inches of rain to refill the reservoir and come out of restrictions.

Q: Why do I need to conserve? My water comes from Fairfax Water and they get their water from the Potomac – and that's not depleted.

A: It's a matter of current system design. We need our eastern customers who are served by Fairfax Water to conserve so that we can push more of that water to our western customers who normally would have received the Goose Creek/Beaverdam Reservoir water.

Q: Why do we need Beaverdam Reservoir? Can't we get all our water from Fairfax Water?

A: We are currently working to change that. We are spending $36 million this year in system design improvements which will enable us to move Fairfax Water more efficiently across our system and to higher elevations so that we can become less reliant on Beaverdam Reservoir. These improvements are slated to be completed before this summer.

Q: For how long will we be in restrictions?

A: We need an inch of rain each week from November to April to return to normal levels. Unless we see that over the next couple of months, there is a strong possibility that we will be under water restrictions in the spring. That said, Loudoun Water is working with the County now, to amend the restrictions ordinance so that we will have greater flexibility in how restrictions are applied and they won’t be so “restrictive.”

Q: Will I be able to plant new vegetation, sod or seed and water my grass in the spring?

A: We hope so.The recommendations we are making to the County Ordinance will take care of customers who need to plant sod, seed or new vegetation this Spring.

Q: What if we get a big snow storm, will that help?

A: Absolutely – every bit of precipitation helps. However, we would need a lot of snow. Studies have shown that 10 inches of snow equals one inch of rain. However, that ratio can vary depending on the structure of the snow. http://nsidc.org/snow/faq.html.

Q: What is Loudoun Water doing to ensure we do not need mandatory restrictions in the future?

A: We are working on three important initiatives happening to help alleviate the situation. One initiative is we have fast-tracked several planned system improvements that will help us move water from our Eastern service provider (Fairfax Water) to our western customers more effectively. This should help curb our reliance on Beaverdam Reservoir. The second initiative is a water demand study, to help us “zero in” on areas of the system (geographically and by type) with the highest demand, so that we may more effectively target our demand management efforts. A third initiative is to work with the County to rewrite parts of the water shortage ordinance, so that we are able to get the demand reductions we need while still enabling some level of outdoor watering. We expect each of these initiatives to be completed or near completion by this spring.

Q: Is this a case of unchecked growth, and a failure to ensure adequate public services to all the new homes?

A: We don’t think so. It’s actually a case of people using more water than before. Though, the drought exacerbated the issue. We should have only seen a 10% increase in demand this summer, with a 3% increase in customers. Instead we saw a 20% increase in demand.

Q: How can I learn more?

A: Visit our website periodically. We'll be adding information about the drought situation as it becomes available.