Rivanna River - Management and Conservation

Management and Conservation

The Rivanna River is the focus of considerable conservation efforts. In 1990 a group of citizens interested in preserving the Rivanna’s scenic, cultural, historic and ecological attributes founded the Rivanna Conservation Society. In the late 1990s the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission convened an EPA-funded multi-stakeholder conservation planning effort, and in 1998 this Rivanna River Roundtable published its State of the Basin report identifying key management and conservation needs. In 2001 The Nature Conservancy, noting its many endemic and rare species including the endangered James River spinymussel, identified the Rivanna basin as “one of the finest remaining freshwater river and stream systems in the Piedmont.” In 2002 a community-based monitoring program called StreamWatch was founded and began intensive data collection at permanent stream monitoring sites throughout the watershed. In 2006 The Nature Conservancy raised funds and approached local governments to successfully facilitate the establishment of the Rivanna River Basin Commission, a multi-jurisdictional body composed of local elected officials, Soil and Water Conservation District representatives, and citizens.

In 2008 the Rivanna River Basin Commission Technical Advisory Committee identified altered hydrology and sediment pollution as principal threats to the health of the system. (In general, altered hydrology refers changes in flow regime due to impervious land cover, withdrawals, and dams. The Technical Committee’s findings regarding the Rivanna were limited to land-cover mediated hydrological alteration).

The Rivanna is a source of drinking water to the Charlottesville area and Lake Monticello. Water supply management and planning have been somewhat controversial. In 2006 a plan to expand water supply by piping water from South Fork Rivanna Reservoir to an enlarged Ragged Mountain Reservoir gained wide endorsement from environmental organizations, the water authority, and permitting agencies. Subsequently, however, some citizens have criticized the plan on the basis of cost, and have encouraged further research about dredging the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir.

In most respects, Rivanna management and conservation efforts have been marked by significant cooperation among diverse stakeholders. The Rivanna River Basin Commission and the community monitoring program (StreamWatch) feature substantial participation by citizens, the conservation community (e.g. Rivanna Conservation Society), local governments (Albemarle County, Fluvanna County, Greene County, and the City of Charlottesville), resource management agencies (Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District) and quasi-governmental organizations (Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority, Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission).