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4 <br />through dredging is 14.3 million gallons per day. During the community water supply <br />planning process, the safe yield needed to meet the community needs for the next 50 <br />years was 18.7 million gallons per day. <br /> <br /> Mr. Huja said City Council does not expect to redesign the water supply plan <br />process but wants to make sure that the data is valid. He said he also feels that the SFRR <br />Stewardship Task Force will recommend that dredging, whether as a separate operation <br />or as part of the water supply plan, should occur sooner rather than later. <br /> <br /> Mr. Frederick said that at the time the public meetings were being held and the <br />water supply plan was advancing, there was strong interest in this community as <br />expressed by the public input about the SFRR pipeline not carrying sediment into the <br />Ragged Mountain Reservoir. There were proposals, including removing sediment from <br />the SFRR, that specifically addressed that interest and concern. <br /> <br /> Mr. John Martin, Albemarle County Service Authority, asked if the has a specific <br />factual basis for the necessity for spending this additional money for these additional <br />studies. He said the focus should be more on a statement of specific facts that clearly <br />identifies any defects found in the prior studies before any further money is spent on this <br />process. <br /> <br /> Mr. Taliaferro said that one of his concerns is the cost of the project. He said <br />Councilors represent the interests of City residents, who have expressed a lot of interest <br />in this project especially with the large increase proposed. He said he does not want to <br />waste any money, but feels a lot of citizens and neighborhoods have valid concerns and <br />questions they would like addressed. <br /> <br /> Mr. Rooker said he feels that the plan was originally supported based on cost <br />estimates. He said he feels it would be prudent with the recent cost increases that seem to <br />be occurring with the dam foundation work to make sure that the other components of the <br />project are reasonably estimated. He said he does not think it was much of a plan to just <br />expand Ragged Mountain without looking further at the pipeline issue, and he would not <br />want to be in the situation where after expanding Ragged Mountain the pipeline project is <br />found not to be feasible for whatever reason. <br /> <br /> Dr. Palmer said that she feels Councilor’s desire to make their citizens more <br />comfortable with the dam cost could be addressed by allowing RWSA to convene an <br />expert panel to review the data. Regarding concern about how to fill the dam after it has <br />been constructed at some height, she said that during a review of the cost of a 9-mile <br />pipeline from the SFRR to the Ragged Mountain Reservoir, a comparison will need to be <br />made with the other options for which complete cost estimates have not been done to this <br />point. One of those options is the 23-mile pipeline from the James River or replacing a <br />13-mile pipeline across the rural areas to the Moormans River. She said she is not <br />advocating this larger study but is pointing out that a study on the 9-mile pipeline might <br />lead to the conclusion that the cost is too high without conducting a comparative review <br />of the other two choices that involve longer routes with at least a similar if not higher <br />cost. <br /> <br /> Mr. Norris said he feels a lot of good issues have been raised and specifically <br />addressed Mr. Martin’s previous comments about identifying the City’s specific concerns <br />about the project. He said he feels the water supply plan has suffered from lack of <br />specificity and accuracy with respect to the cost. The public was told that dredging the <br />SFRR might cost $220,000,000. Based on information that he feels was not that hard to <br />obtain, that cost was dramatically overinflated. He noted that Dr. Palmer’s point was <br />accurate regarding not knowing that the dam project would be that costly without the <br />analysis of the borings done at the dam site. Concerning the pipeline project, he said <br />there is concern in part that it is premised on the construction of the Western Bypass. <br />The conservation goals set forth in this plan of 5% reduction per capita in conservation <br />are considered by many to be woefully inadequate. He said the pipeline might end up <br />being the lowest cost alternative when compared to the cost of replacing the Sugar <br />Hollow pipeline, which is the reason a request for better analysis and as accurate a <br />comparison as possible to the other alternatives is being made at this time rather than a <br /> <br />