American Shad
Source: US Fish and Wildlife Service
Why build a dam? Why not pump water from the James River, or drill more wells? The City of Newport News has a desalinization operation already for brackish groundwater in the region, requiring expensive processing before it is useable for industrial or municipal purposes. Both the James River and additional groundwater supplies would be brackish. Newport News is seeking additional supplies of ***fresh*** water, not more brackish water requiring expensive treatment.
The King William Reservoir proposal was adopted by the Regional Raw Water Study Group as the "proposed alternative" in 1993. Water from the Mattaponi River would fill the valley of Cohoke Creek in King William County, creating a 1,526-acre reservoir storing 12 billion gallons of water.
Newport News Waterworks plans to draw 20 million gallons/day from the Mattaponi River at Scotland Landing, between the town of Walkerton and the Mattaponi Indian Reservation. This is upstream from the saltwater intrusion. Since the Mattaponi River's average flow is 500 million gallons/day at that site, the city feels the environmental impact would be acceptable... and of course the city feels that the benefits of providing a cheap source of fresh water to the growing Peninsula communities would be a great benefit.
There's little development in the Mattaponi watershed, so the water will require minimal treatment to meet drinking water standards. The Cohoke Creek and the surrounding forest is not unique in the area, though two "threatened" species (the sensitive joint-vetch and the small whorled pogonia, small plants rarely noticed by non-botanists) may be present. Converting the creek valley to a flatwater lake would not destroy critical habitat, and the $31 million wetland mitigation plan would reduce the impact.
Nonetheless, it would dramatically change the local landscape, and perhaps the local culture, and there has been intense opposition. The Mattaponi tribe revealed in 1999 that a secret sacred site would be destroyed by the reservoir. Newport News Waterworks managers have been unable to provide sufficient mitigation to reduce the tribe's concerns and gain their support. A tribal leader said, in an Op-Ed article in the Daily Press, "Newport News claims that its proposed reservoir will not harm the Mattaponi River. Don't believe the city."
The recreational impact of the King William reservoir on the local economy should not be significant, in contrast to the impact of Lake Gaston and Smith Mountain Lake on the rural communities surrounding those reservoirs. Those two reservoirs are located far from the coast - it's a surprise to see large cabin cruisers in back yards of Bedford and Mecklenburg counties. The proposed new reservoir would be small, and is located so close to the existing Chesapeake Bay marinas, so it is difficult to picture a major recreational boom associated with King William Reservoir. Still, a booster group has identified recreational benefits ranging from from picnics to swimming.
The greatest barrier to building the reservoir was the Army Corps of Engineers. In 1999, the District Engineer in Norfolk rejected the request for a permit to construct the dam and reservoir. His rationale echoed the debates about increasing the water supplies for Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and other growing urban areas in the western United States. The engineer rejected the permit because he thought the Peninsula communities had a better alternative - conservation.
The District Engineer estimated the water deficit for Newport News and its partners at 17 million gallons/day. He considered a proposal to build a reservoir to provide 40 million gallons/day to be excessive. Only after Newport News and its partners in the proposal had reduced demand would the engineer consider a need to increase the supply. Conservation to reduce water demand vs. new dams to increase water supply is a common debate west of the 100th Meridian, but rarely an issue in Virginia - which gets over 40 inches of rain annually.
Other alternatives besides the King William Reservoir that were considered in the Environmental Impact Statement were:
The District Engineer was later overruled by his supervisor, but the Federal permit from the Corps of Engineers was not the last hurdle for Newport News. In May, 2003 the Virginia Marine Resources Commission - a state agency - denied an essential permit to build the intake pipe in the Mattaponi River, in order to protect the spawning and nursery area for shad. However, Newport News sued again. After a rehearing, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission issued a permit for the water intake on Agust 12, 2004.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality ruled on December 27, 2004 that the reservoir complied with Virginia's Coastal Resources Management Program. On November 4, 2005, the Virginia Supreme Court affirmed that the State Water Control Board permit was legal. On November 16, 2005, the Corps of Engineers issued the final Section 404 permit to permit destruction of 403 acres wetlands in the valley of Cohoke Creek, and replace them with 806 acres of restored or newly-created wetlands elsewhere. The only remaining potential barrier to construction would be a court's interpretation that the 1677 treaty between the colony of Virginia and the Mattaponi Indian tribe would require tribal approval of the project.