Virginia senators request special session to act on ’deeply alarming’ groundwater report

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality released its 117-page legislative report on the state’s groundwater supply east of Interstate 95 this week, which revealed significant levels of strain on the eastern aquifers that could put clean drinking water at risk.

“Groundwater supply east of I-95 is constrained, and current projections indicate declining availability in the near future,” the report states.

It’s unlikely that the aquifers could handle any new major industrial water withdrawals without risking water availability, the probe found, risks of saltwater intrusions and other challenges that could impact clean water are growing.

On Thursday, state Sens. Russet Perry, D-Loudoun, and Richard Stuart, R-King George, sent a letter to Gov. Abigail Spanberger, asking her to convene a special session to consider and pass policies to rein in water use in the Virginia Coastal Plain aquifer system.

The region contains nine aquifers east of I-95 and on the Eastern Shore.

The report stems from a 2024 joint legislative resolution to study the groundwater supply of the state’s eastern half and is the most comprehensive study to date on the coastal aquifer system. 

The report was supposed to be released on the first day of the year but had been withheld until recently — a particular pain point the senators highlighted in their missive to Spanberger.

“Legislators did not receive it until the third week of July, months after the legislative session adjourned and the new biennial budget took effect,” Perry and Stuart wrote. “Had the General Assembly reviewed these findings when the law required, it is safe to say the outcome of several legislative and budget decisions would have been different.” 

The report provides specific recommendations for lawmakers and the governor, the senators said, which “should be thoughtfully considered during a special session.”

The recommendations outlined in the report include updating the 1992 Groundwater Management Act by codifying DEQ’s ability to deny groundwater withdrawal permit applications if they would lower aquifer levels past a certain threshold. 

The report also suggests mandating that localities’ comprehensive plans limit growth based on groundwater availability.

“The risks detailed in this report are too dire to ask Virginians to wait another year, and the timing of the report’s release makes immediate action necessary,” the senators said.

The report also analyzed how data centers may impact groundwater. 

While many data centers use surface water, there isn’t enough data to get the full scope of their water use. 

The report also analyzed potential permits for the water needs of a data center’s evaporative cooling system. “It appears unlikely that a data center with evaporative cooling technology (or any comparable water user) would find a reliable, sufficient groundwater supply,” the report found.

The coastal aquifers aren’t lawmakers’ only water concern. 

This year the General Assembly funded a study of groundwater in western Loudoun and northern Fauquier counties where there are signs of strain. 

The Potomac and the Rappahannock Rivers were recently rated as the most endangered waterways in the country.

“Our Commonwealth now has incredibly clear evidence of a serious threat to one of its most essential resources. We respectfully ask that you call the General Assembly into special session so we can respond with the urgency these findings demand,” the senators urged in their letter.

Perry and Stuart’s letter follows one sent to Spanberger by Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, and Del. Joe McNamara, R-Roanoke County, last week. In that communication, the lawmakers asked the governor to call the General Assembly into session to more thoroughly scrutinize the proposed $67 billion Dominion Energy-NextEra Energy merger.