038-24 (OrdAmendmentChapter75DroughtResponse&ContingencyPlan) 'A
ORDINANCE
Amending the Frederick County Cade, Chapter 75 Drought Response and Contingency Plan
BE IT ORDAINED that the Frederick County Board of Supervisors amends Chapter 75, Drought
Response and Contingency Plan per the attached document.
ADOPTED this 24" day of January 2024.
Josh Ludwig, Chainnan Aye John Jewell Aye
Heather H. Lockridge Aye Robert W. Wells Aye
Blaine P. Dunn Aye Robert Liero Aye
Judith McCann-Slaughter Aye
Michael L. Bollho r
Clerk, Board of S pervisors
County of Frederick, Virginia
Res. No. 038-24
§ 75-4 Conditions for declaration of potential shortage of water; applicable restrictions.
A. The Drought Contingency and Response Plan for Frederick County provides guidance 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. Frederick 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 in the Frederick County Sanitation
Authority's Drought Management Plan, in the water system(s), and to declare drought watch, drought
warning or drought emergency conditions within the jurisdiction. The County Administrator, in
consultation with the Executive Director of the Sanitation Authority, 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, in accordance with § 44-
146.21 of the Code of Virginia, declare a drought watch, drought warning, or drought emergency, as
appropriate. Said declaration shall be subject to confirmation by the Board of Supervisors at its next
regularly scheduled meeting or at a special meeting within 14 days of the declaration, whichever occurs
first.
(1) Drought watch. The drought watch stage applies when dry weather conditions persist or worsen and the
water demand or usage remains steady or increased which creates questions as to the sustainability of
the water resource supplies. Drought watch target is to increase public awareness and reduce water
consumption by 10% for residential users and 15% for nonresidential users through voluntary water
conservation. Required actions include the monitoring of drought conditions; notifying the public of
incipient drought via local media, public service announcement, County website, notices with water
bills; and requesting voluntary reduction in nonessential water use, including:
(a) Reduce outdoor water use, including the watering of lawns and landscaping;
(b) Use washing machines and dishwashers only when loads are full;
(c) Reduce water use when performing personal hygiene;.
(d) Install water-savings devices in the home, including faucet aerators and low-flow toilets;
(e) Install rain barrels for watering plants, washing vehicles and general cleanup; and
(f) Check faucets and toilets for potential leaks.
(2) Drought warning. The drought warming stage applies when dry conditions are severely affecting the
reliability of the water resources and the ability of the Frederick County Sanitation Authority to
adequately supply and meet future demands or usage of its clients. Drought warning target is to increase
public awareness and reduce water consumption by 15% for residential users and 20% for
nonresidential users through voluntary and mandatory water conservation. Required actions include the
monitoring of drought conditions; notifying the public of the drought warning via local media,public
service anrlouncernent, County website, notices with water bills; requesting voluntary water
conservation measures; and implementing mandatory reduction in nonessential water use as follows:
(a) Voluntary reductions.
[1] Voluntary reductions of overall water use by all customers of the FCSA, as set forth above for the
drought watch stage; and
[2] In addition:
[a] Customers not served drinking water in restaurants unless requested;
[b] Ceasing installation of new irrigation taps on the FCSA system;
[c] Ceasing water service to customers who have been given a five-day notice to repair one or more leaks
and have failed to do so;
[d] Limiting expanding new irrigated land in production or planting or landscaping that is required by site
design review process; and
[e] Reducing watering of shrubbery, trees, lawns, grass,plants, and other established landscaping by
implementing an alternate-day use schedule based on the last digit of residential or commercial address:
add-number addresses: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday; even-number addresses: Wednesday, Friday
and Sunday, with no watering to occur between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
(b) Specifically prohibited activities using water are:
[1] Washing down of streets, sidewalks, walkways, driveways, parking lots, service station aprons, tennis
courts, other hard-surfaced areas, buildings, and structures, except as required for safety concerns;
[2] Noncommercial washing of privately owned automobiles, trucks, trailers, boats, and any other types of
mobile equipment, except where required to meet air quality standards;
[3] Using water to maintain fountains, reflective ponds and decorative water bodies for aesthetic or scenic
purposes, except where necessary to support aquatic life;
[4] Obtaining water from fire hydrants for construction purposes, fire drills or any other purpose other than
fire suppression or other public emergency;
[5] Using water to fill or refill public or private swimming pools; and
[61 Bull, .. atei (ha
(c) Intensification of maintenance efforts to identify and correct water leaks in the distribution system.
(3) Drought emergency. The drought emergency stage applies when extreme water shortage or drought
conditions have caused significant adverse impacts to the reliability of water resources and the ability of
the Frederick County Sanitation Authority to adequately supply and meet future demands or usage
requirements of its clients and the public health and safety are at risk. Drought emergency target is to
increase public awareness and reduce water withdrawals by 20% for residential users and 25% for
nonresidential users through voluntary and mandatory water conservation. Required actions include the
monitoring of drought conditions; notifying the public of the drought emergency via local media, public
service announcement, County website, notices with water bills; and requesting voluntary water
conservation measures; and implementing mandatory reduction in nonessential water use as follows:
(a) Voluntary reductions of overall water use by all customers of the FCSA, as set forth above for the
drought watch and drought warning stages, except that irrigation of established and new landscaping is
prohibited, and not voluntary.
(b) Specifically prohibited activities using water are:
[1] Washing down of streets, sidewalks, walkways, driveways,parking lots, service station aprons, tennis
courts, other hard-surfaced areas, buildings, and structures, except as required for safety concerns;
[2] Noncommercial washing of privately owned automobiles, trucks, trailers, boats, and any other types of
mobile equipment, except where required to meet air quality standards;
r3l Commercial car washes without water recycling stems (effective 0110112027);
[341 Using water to maintain fountains, reflective ponds and decorative water bodies for aesthetic or scenic
purposes, except where necessary to support aquatic life;
[54] Obtaining water from fire hydrants for construction purposes, fire drills or any other purpose other than
fire suppression or other public emergency;
[bf] Using water to fill or refill public or private swimming pools;
[ 4] Watering of all shrubbery, trees, lawns, grass, plants, and other established or new landscaping;
[S4] Watering of vegetable gardens;
[99] Bulk water sales (haulers) except for the temporary rovision of water for potable residential purposes.
This shall not be construed to prevent the haulin of non-potable water for any puj]2ose.
(c) A moratorium on the issuance of all new water service connections inay be approved by the Board of
Supervisors for the duration of the drought emergency stage. As part of the public information process,
notices will be provided to developers on the moratorium.
(d) The implementation of conservation water rates eeuld-D av be approved by the Board of Supervisors for
the duration of the drought einergency stage to a maximum increase of 20% above 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.
(e) Intensification of maintenance efforts to identify and correct water leaks in the distribution system.
B. Frederick County shall choose its local data sources, establish its 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, Frederick County shall be permitted to reduce the water
system pressure and to further ration the water supply, as needed.
D. Drought emergency conditions may also be declared by the jurisdiction in certain circumstances which
are listed in this chapter and in the event of equipment failure, contamination or other non-drought-
related event that prevents short-tern provision of adequate water supplies.
f
COUNTY of FREDERICK
Department of Planning and Development,
, r 540/665-5651
Fax: 5401665-6395
MEMORANDUM
TO: Frederick County Board of Supervisors
FROM: Wyatt Pearson,AICP, Director of Planning and Development
RE: Chapter 75 Drought Response and Contingency Plan
DATE: January Yd, 2024
As directed by the Board at the December 13th, 2023 meeting, staff reached out to stakeholders impacted
by the Drought Response and Contingency Plan ordinance to solicit feedback, conducted some limited
code comparison research of other Virgina localities to determine whether the existing ordinance was
consistent with approaches elsewhere, and evaluated some data provide by Frederick Water on average
customer usages by category. As a result of this engagement and research we offer the attached
amendments to Chapter 75 Drought Response and Contingency Plan for your consideration, which are
summarized below.
• Allow bulk water hauling during the Drought Warning stage. Bulk water hauling is currently
prohibited during the drought warning stage, with no appeal allowance. Allowing it to continue
during that stage should have a minimal impact while also creating a more equitable ordinance.
• Restrict otieration of commercial car washes without water recycling systems during the Drought
Emergency stage. Restricting the operation of commercial car washes without water recycling
originally arose as an idea from the Frederick Water Planning Committee, and it was found to be
a common practice during our code comparison research efforts. Applying a three year effective
date and providing advance notice to all car washes will ensure adequate time to come into
compliance.
• During the Drought Emer encs Stage, allow bulk water hauling for temporM Potable residential
u ossa wells cisterns etc. and clan non--potable water can be hauled for an ose.
Allowing bulk water haulers to provide water for potable residential purposes provides a stop gap
measure for rural households as they schedule to have a well drilled deeper or construct a
connection to the Frederick Water system.
• Modify the moratorium on all new service connections to be an optional provision with Board of
Supervisors discretion. The moratorium on service connections upon evaluation does not seem
likely to result in immediate usage reductions which is the stated purpose of the drought emergency
restrictions.However, it may be useful to consider as an option depending upon the severity of the
drought and is proposed to be retained as an option for the Board to utilize in the future if necessary.
If the Board is inclined to make amendments to Chapter 75 Drought Response and Contingency Plan a
public hearing could be held at the January 24th, 2024 Board meeting.
WGP
107 North Kent Street, Suite 202 • Winchester, Virginia 22601-5000