NEWS: City Failed to Report Waller Mill Reservoir Data as Required
Data for 2023, 2024 submitted to State after resident inquiry
Correspondence with State water regulators confirmed that the City of Williamsburg failed to file on time several years worth of State required reports concerning Waller Mill Reservoir, the City’s main source for water. According to the State, the data concerns the volume of water that the City withdraws from the reservoir on a regular basis. Reservoirs drawing as much water as Waller Mill are required to report their withdrawal data annually by January 31. According to the State, Williamsburg failed to report the data as required in both 2023 and 2024. The data for both years was eventually filed by the City in early March.
Requests for comment sent to the City’s Director of Public Works, Jack Reed, and the Director of Communications, Nicole Trifone about the data reporting issue were left unanswered at the time of this writing. The problem of unreported data was initially investigated by a city resident, Dr. Robert Wilson, who has contributed commentary about the City’s water supply to this newsletter in the past. Dr. Wilson provided the Williamsburg Independent copies of his correspondence with State regulators from the Department of Environmental Quality in which they confirmed the Waller Mill water withdrawal data was not reported as required. This information was subsequently confirmed by the Williamsburg Independent.
Download a PDF of the email correspondence with DEQ:
On Monday, March 3, 2025, Wilson sent an email to the City’s Director of Public Works, Jack Reed, informing him that a representative from the State Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) confirmed verbally that the City had failed to report required data. The next day, Tuesday, March 4, a representative of DEQ confirmed the missing data in writing. “I was able to confirm that the reporting data for the Waller Mill Reservoir was not included in the 2023 and 2024 Annual Report, as you stated, because DEQ did not receive reporting data from the facility. DEQ has been in contact with the City of Williamsburg to obtain the missing reporting information,” wrote Hannah Somers, Manager, Water Supply Planning & Analysis, Office of Water Supply.
Further communication with Somers by the Williamsburg Independent confirmed that the City didn’t submit the required reporting data until Tuesday, March 4, 2025, the day after Wilson alerted Reed about the issue.
The reports that Somers said the State requires by January 31st each year are “Reportable withdrawals [which] include, but are not limited to, those for public water supply, manufacturing, mining, commercial, institutional, livestock watering, artificial fish culture, and steam-electric power generation uses.” Somers went on to write that “DEQ utilizes withdrawal data in the Annual Water Resources Report and the State Water Resources Plan.”
After the water crisis in Richmond back in January, many people around the region are becoming more aware of issues concerning their own water supplies. A report by Dean Mirshahi and Dave Cantor at VPM says that State regulators found that the failure in Richmond was “completely avoidable.” Further, the State said that Richmond failed to “maintain conditions throughout the entirety of the waterworks in a manner that will assure a high degree of capability and reliability to comply.”
This year, Williamsburg introduced a roughly $28M capital improvement plan meant to address shortcomings in the current water delivery and management system. These upgrades will include Water Treatment Plant Renewal ($9.2M), Distribution Renewal ($14.3M) and Sewer System Rehab ($5.8M). In order to help pay for these improvements, the City is considering significant increases to water rates.
The proposed growth in Williamsburg has also has raised concerns about the City’s ability to meet long-term demands for water, especially during drought conditions. For example, the City still has to address the issue of its backup water supplies. Currently, the City contracts for backup water from the City of Newport News. The contract was extended for one year in 2024, but the City now owes up to $18M to continue the agreement. The City also owns a backup well, but according to the DEQ, the well was last used in 2009.
George Arbogust is Founder and Editor of the Williamsburg Independent. He wakes up too early, so please consider buying him a cup of coffee.