Work on dam stopped after new cost estimates

By News in Brief
Published: September 29, 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE—Local officials have halted design work on a project to build a dam at Ragged Mountain Reservoir after learning that the estimated cost has nearly doubled.

The project was intended to supply drinking water to the Charlottesville area for the next 50 years. But an engineering firm raised the original $37 million cost estimate to $70 million, largely because of fractured and weathered rock at the potential dam’s site. A second firm’s study concluded that the project would cost $56.5 million or less.

The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority is hiring an independent panel to review both firms’ findings.