[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Shenandoah
County as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 8-23-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-07]
The County of Shenandoah adopts by reference the current version
of the Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission (NSVRC) Drought/Low
Water Supply Response Plan. The adoption of this plan, or a substitution
plan authorized by the County of Shenandoah, is pursuant to, and authorized
by, applicable sections of the Virginia Code (as required by 9 VAC
25-780-120; and as authorized by Code of Virginia § 15.2-923
(ii), Local water-saving ordinances, and § 15.2-924, Water
supply emergency ordinances).
Section 15.2-924 of the Code of Virginia states that localities
have the power to declare water supply emergency, and to restrict
citizens' water use for the prevention of or the duration of
a water supply emergency. When such restrictions are put into place,
any local water supply system may apply to the State Water Control
Board for assistance if they are able to provide evidence that they
have exhausted their available means. Water can be bought from one
water supplier for the benefit of another to alleviate local water
shortages; in such cases, water will be paid for at an agreed-upon
rate of the supplier.
A.
The Drought Response Plan within the Northern Shenandoah Regional
Water Supply Plan establishes criteria for evaluating the potential
for, or existence of, drought conditions and implementation of response
and contingency activities for persons utilizing the public water
system. The provisions of this section apply only to persons utilizing
the public water system, but persons served by private wells are also
encouraged to implement voluntary reductions during drought stages.
Shenandoah County is authorized to take special measures of prudent
management to prevent a critical water shortage when a potential shortage
and/or emergency condition exists as outlined in this chapter and
to declare drought watch, drought warning or drought emergency conditions
within the jurisdiction. The County Administrator in consultation
with the Director of Public Utilities of the Sanitary Districts will
evaluate the conditions and make the determination which stage of
drought is occurring. Upon a determination of the existence of the
following conditions, the County Administrator or his designee shall
take the following actions:
(1)
Drought watch. The drought watch stage targets increased monitoring
of drought conditions and increased public awareness of incipient
drought conditions. Required actions under the drought watch include
notifying the public of incipient drought and to request voluntary
reduction in nonessential water use as identified in the Drought Response
Plan.
(2)
Drought warning. The drought warning target is to increase public
awareness, and reduce water withdrawals through voluntary water conservation.
Required actions include notifying the public of the drought warning,
and requesting voluntary reduction in nonessential water use as identified
in the Drought Response Plan.
(3)
Drought emergency.
(a)
Target; actions; conservation rates.
[1]
The drought emergency target is to increase public awareness
and reduce water withdrawals by 10% to 15%. Required actions include
notifying the public of the drought emergency, and implementing mandatory
reduction in nonessential water uses as identified in the Drought
Response Plan.
[2]
Implementation of conservation water rates for the duration
of the drought emergency stage with an increase of 20% over the existing
rate. This drought conservation rate is a temporary fee imposed during
the current water supply shortage and is not a cost-based rate. The
conservation rate will be terminated at such time as the drought emergency
status is lifted.
(b)
The County Administrator shall choose his local data sources,
establish their local trigger points for the varying declarations,
and evaluate various information sources prior to enabling or rescinding
any noted declaration.
(c)
During extreme drought emergency situations the Stoney Creek
Sanitary District and the Toms Brook-Maurertown Sanitary District
may reduce the water system pressure and further ration the water
supply, as needed.
B.
Drought emergency conditions may also be declared by the jurisdiction
in certain circumstances which are listed in the Drought Response
section of the Northern Shenandoah Regional Water Supply Plan, and
in the event of equipment failure, contamination or other non-drought
related event that prevents short-term provision of adequate water
supplies.
Notice of these public water use restrictions shall be published
in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the County for
a period of one day per week each week during which the restrictions
are in effect and on the County website while the restrictions are
in effect.
It shall be a violation of this article for any person to use water, or allow or cause the use of water, in violation of any mandatory restrictions imposed under this article after the first publication required by § 160-4 of this article.
A.
Violations of this chapter shall constitute civil violations as outlined
herein. The Shenandoah County Sheriff's Department, the Shenandoah
County Fire Marshal and the Sanitary Districts are hereby authorized
to enforce this chapter and all rules, regulations and penalties herein
related to all drought stages. The Sheriff's Department, Fire
Marshal or Sanitary Districts may provide a citation for a civil violation
to any individual who has violated any provision of this chapter.
A.
Upon implementation of a drought emergency stage (above), the County
Administrator shall appoint an Appeals Board consisting of three representatives
from the jurisdiction administration and the Sanitary Districts. The
County Attorney or designee shall serve as legal counsel to the Appeals
Board.
B.
The Appeals Board shall be empowered to review customer applications
for exemptions from the provisions of the mandatory conservation on
a case-by-case basis and, if warranted, to make equitable adjustments
to such provisions. The Board shall also be empowered to establish
regulations governing the granting of temporary exemptions applicable
to all or some of the uses of the water supply as set forth. The Board
shall, in deciding applications, balance economic and other hardships
to the applicant resulting from the imposition of water use restrictions
or allocations against the person and cumulative impacts to the water
supply resulting from the granting of exemptions. Individual applications
shall be decided by the Board within two weeks of receipt of an application
in proper form and containing all necessary information.
Upon determining that conditions necessitating a declaration
of a particular drought stage have alleviated, the County Administrator
shall reduce to a lower stage or rescind the declaration under this
chapter, as appropriate.
