Public Access to Lake Manassas Up For Vote at City Council

People may once again be able to fish and boat in Lake Manassas, a feat no one has legally accomplished since 2004. During the Nov. 24 Manassas City Council meeting, the council will vote on a proposal to study the risks of opening the lake to public access.

The proposal was first brought to the council’s finance committee on Wednesday, according to The Washington Post, as the study would cost $44,900 to complete. The committee could not decided whether to fund the study, so Mayor Hal Parrish agreed to push the proposal to the whole council.

Lake Manassas supplies drinking water to more than 100,000 Manassas, Manassas Park and Prince William County residents. The City of Manassas removed public access to the lake in the 1990s and banned boating in 2004 to protect the drinking water supply.

“Water is a necessity,” Council member J. Steven Randolph said to The Washington Post. “You have to have it, not only for the City of Manassas, but a great part of Manassas Park and parts of Prince William County.”

Randolph, who is retiring in a few weeks, says he cannot support anything that could damage the city’s water, reports The Post.

Read more at The Washington Post.

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