Water Reuse Project Helps Businesses, Environment

You can expect lane closures in Lorton until the end of the summer, but experts working on the water reuse project say short term hassles will lead to long term benefits for residents and businesses.

Several years ago, the state of Virginia put regulations in place that allowed reclaimed water to be used for non-drinking purposes like irrigation.  The Noman Cole Pollution Control Plant currently cleans wastewater and discharges it into Pohick Creek.  That wastewater eventually ends up in the Chesapeake, but Mike McGrath with the Pollution Control Plant says a new project will use that water for “growing grass instead of algae in the bay.”

A pipeline is under construction that runs from the Pollution Control Plant, crosses over Route 1, and ends up at a storage tank at the I-95 Energy Resource Recovery Facility.  McGrath says that facility currently uses two million gallons of drinkable water each day for cooling; something which could be done with reclaimed wastewater.  Once the pipeline is complete, that’s exactly what will happen.

“It’s economically viable,” McGrath said. “We’re doing something to reduce pollution to the Chesapeake Bay and it’s not costing us a lot of money.  By selling the water, we break even.”

Wastewater, even wastewater that’s been cleaned and treated, contains nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus.  Those nutrients grow algae in water and pollute the bay, but those same nutrients are good for irrigation.

“People add fertilizer to their grass,” McGrath said.

And that’s the idea behind hooking the pipeline up with the Laurel Hill Golf Course, another local business that has a demand for reclaimed water.  Laurel Hill uses about 20 million gallons of water a year for irrigation. 

McGrath says this project has always made sense for businesses in the Lorton area, but funding it was the tricky part.  That all changed a few years ago with the passage of the Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

“Stimulus funding became available, and that helped it become economically viable,” McGrath said.

The pipeline will also likely supply Little League fields with irrigation water, but beyond that there’s no immediate plans to hook up with other local entities, even though that’s something the Noman Cole Pollution Control Plant would like to do down the road.

“We’re just kind of digesting what we have and working out what we need to do to be good water providers,” McGrath said.  “It would be great if we could supply to more businesses.”

Currently, there are plans in the work to construct a bulk fill station on site at the Pollution Control Plant.  The hope would be to provide the public with reclaimed water for irrigation or other purposes, but the details of how that’s going to work haven’t been nailed down just yet.

The one thing McGrath says is certain is that when this pipeline is complete, Lorton will be in a unique position within Fairfax County.  The lower price water will help local business with their bottom lines, and the reduction in wastewater into Pohick Creek will make a difference ecologically.

“We’re providing lower cost water, where the potable water isn’t needed,” McGrath says. “Citizens of Lorton are getting something that no one else in the county is getting.”

By the end of August, McGrath says the project should be substantially complete.  Once construction wraps up, the viability of the lines and pumps must undergo extensive testing, however, before the pipeline is actually operational.