GREATER TYSONS CITIZENS COALITION QUESTIONS TASK FORCE
RESPONSE TO SEWER CAPACITY CRISIS

April 16, 2008 - Fairfax County lacks the wastewater treatment capacity to accommodate any growth at Tysons Corner beyond the level of the current Comprehensive Plan, County staff reported to the Tysons Land Use Task Force. Only by cobbling together a scheme of purchasing additional sewage treatment capacity from nearby jurisdictions and a massive capital investment in infrastructure could the Task Force’s vision of a densely urbanized Tysons be supported.

According to County figures presented to the Task Force on March 24, 2008, the infrastructure costs could range from $60 million to $142 million. The costs of purchasing additional capacity were not included in these figures, nor were increased maintenance costs for the expanded system.

The majority of Task Force members did not allow this news to deter them from continuing to plan for massive density increases at Tysons, according to Greater Tysons Citizens Coalition (GTCC) members present at the meeting.

Comments from some Task Force members suggested they did not consider the staff’s report an impediment to adding millions of square feet of development and hundreds of thousands of workers and residents to Tysons Corner. Instead, one proposed that the report might be overly pessimistic, because it didn’t account for possible future technologies that would reduce sewage output. Another Task Force member interpreted the staff’s message as saying that meeting the wastewater needs of urban density at Tysons was possible—“it’s just a matter of money.”

“It’s a heck of a lot of money they’re talking about,” observed McLean resident Bud Freeman, who attended the meeting. “And who will be paying? If County bonds are used for the sewer construction, they would compete with bonds for school construction, environmental work, and recreation facilities. Our resources are not limitless.”

The staff report began with a sobering piece of information: the “County is nearing [full utilization of] its allocation at the Blue Plains treatment plant, which serves the Tysons area.” This means even without any expansion of Tysons beyond the levels of the current Comprehensive Plan, Fairfax County will generate six million gallons of sewage a day more than its share of the capacity at the Blue Plains plant. Handling this excess amount, and meeting other growing needs, will require either the purchase of an additional allocation of 8.5 million gallons a day at Blue Plains, or a combination of purchasing capacity from Loudoun County and diverting flow to the Norman Cole treatment plant in southern Fairfax County.

The urban development of Tysons Corner would at least double this treatment deficit, generating 12 to 15 million gallons of sewage per day more than the County has capacity to treat. The staff reached these figures by calculating the region’s projected growth (based on Council of Government figures) and population estimates under the two “prototypes” for Tysons development being discussed by the Task Force at the time the report was prepared.

To handle all this sewage, Fairfax County would have to replace up to 20 miles of pipeline to divert the excess wastewater from the Tysons area to the Norman Cole plant in Lorton, as well as to treatment plants in Arlington and Alexandria. The existing sewer lines running to the Difficult Run pumping station in Great Falls would be replaced with larger capacity pipes and the pumping station itself would be upgraded to handle the increased load. This would also require an additional sewer line from the pumping station to the Scott’s Run siphon.

And after this huge investment in infrastructure, Fairfax County still would have to purchase costly treatment capacity at plants in neighboring jurisdictions. These purchases, along with the operation and management costs of the complex system, were not part of the staff’s cost estimates.

The County’s wastewater treatment capacity has significant implications beyond the future growth of Tysons. Achieving all the costly increases proposed would only meet the needs of a high-density Tysons Corner. Jimmy Jenkins, Director of Public Works for Fairfax County, noted to the Task Force that any other development in the County, such as at Springfield or Franconia, would require yet more capacity—but he did not identify where this capacity might come from or what it might cost. According to County staff, expansion of the Norman Cole plant is limited by environmental restrictions on its output, so construction of a larger facility would not be a possibility.

“Most people listening to the staff report would be alarmed,” said Ted Alexander of the Greater Tysons Citizens Coalition. “Anyone observing the Task Force's response to it would be even more concerned. They seem to feel money was the only obstacle and that could be handled easily. We think taxpayers and ratepayers would not be as cavalier in these assumptions.”

The Task Force is moving ahead with consideration of a “Preferred Alternative” for redevelopment that will bring 114 million square feet of office space to Tysons, and housing for 84,000 residents.

The Greater Tysons Citizens Coalition, an umbrella group for citizens and civic associations in Fairfax County, was formed in recent months to give the surrounding communities a stronger voice in decisions being made about development and density in Tysons Corner. GTCC meets every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the McLean Community Center. For more information, contact GTCC at: GTCitizens@yahoo.com.