Editorial: Groundwater report poses alarming, urgent questions for officials

A recently released state report about groundwater usage east of Interstate 95 poses some difficult questions about sustainability in Hampton Roads, as well as about transparency in Richmond.

The report was delayed for months, without explanation, and forecasts an alarming future that will require some tough decisions by state and local officials. The questions it raises demand informed, substantive and honest answers — and those answers must come quickly.

At the insistence of state Sen. Richard Stuart, a Republican from King George County, the General Assembly approved a bill in 2024 calling on the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to conduct a study of groundwater in eastern Virginia to be delivered by the first day of this year’s legislative session.

Lawmakers asked DEQ to look at historic and present use, examine the sustainability of large water-intensive development (specifying data centers) and assess the adequacy of existing state law to manage water supplies.

That report was completed in January, per the assembly’s direction, but only released in July, months after a roiling debate over the proliferation of data centers tied the legislature in knots and delayed completion of the two-year state budget. It was provided to the Associated Press by Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s office only after a reporter asked for comment about its whereabouts.

That itself warrants a more complete accounting by the governor, but it shouldn’t distract from the more important and, frankly, worrying conclusions offered by the DEQ study.

It provides an assessment of the Potomac aquifer system, which is used by most of eastern Virginia, including Hampton Roads. It outlines the existing regulatory framework for groundwater usage, first established by state law in 1973 and tightened in 1992, and details the major areas of consumption (35% industrial, 34% private domestic and 26% public water supply).

Worries about supplies prompted more effective enforcement which, coupled with the closure of a paper mill in Franklin, saw supplies rebound about 15 years ago. But that mill’s reopening means it and another mill in West Point combine to consume so much water that it reduced the groundwater to below sea level, a tipping point that leads to subsidence (that is, the sinking of the ground) and the “potential for regional saltwater intrusion,” which would reduce the supply of freshwater for human consumption and agriculture use.

DEQ estimates that the withdrawal rate will increase by “200,000 to 300,000 gallons per day, on average, each year through 2050,” further straining available supply. Programs to inject more freshwater in the aquifer are likely to help, but aren’t considered a viable long-term solution.

The harsh conclusion: Without concerted effort to better manage limited groundwater resources, the region could hit a tipping point in five to 10 years and, as it stands, the system has no capacity to accommodate additional industrial consumers.

The report offers a series of recommendations for lawmakers to allow regulators greater authority to reject projects requiring large amounts of water, encourage local governments to develop groundwater use plans, add staff to assist with data collection and analysis, and increase permitting fees to pay for monitoring.

While these findings will be framed by the statewide debate about data center construction, and massive water usage by that industry contributes to the problem, the report centers on the larger sustainability crisis facing eastern Virginia.

Communities must have adequate drinking water for residents as well as for existing businesses and area farms. Economic development will be stifled if the groundwater supply cannot accommodate new users. This situation puts everything at risk.

Stuart, the Northern Neck Republican, and state Sen. Russet Perry, a Northern Virginia Democrat, have called on the governor to convene a special legislative session to address these pressing concerns. Their alarm should be shared throughout our region and the larger commonwealth.

This report asks uncomfortable and deeply worrisome questions about the future viability of our region, and Hampton Roads should be demanding not only answers, but solutions, at once.