02/12/2026
https://www.nvdaily.com/nvdaily/commentary-woodstock-must-suspend-all-new-water-connections/article_4d19ca63-c4f1-5028-8bab-d8240b5e826c.html
Commentary: Woodstock must suspend all new water connections
Brad Pollack
On Tuesday, I addressed the Woodstock Town Council for the first time ever. It was a public hearing on a special use permit for a Wawa in front of DuPont Community Credit Union. It shouldn't be approved until Woodstock's water crisis is resolved. The Woodstock Town Council should not exercise its discretion and approve a special use permit for anything that may increase water usage as the Town of Woodstock has a mandatory restriction on all non-essential water usage. This comes as the current drought conditions throughout the Shenandoah Valley persist.
Town Manager Aaron Grisdale was quoted stating that “right now, the flow in the river is below the fifth percentile, and as the drought conditions continue, he said that it is hard to say when the water restriction will be lifted.” Fifth means five out of 100. So, Woodstock is almost completely out of water.
And that is just the latest crisis. Woodstock’s water quality is, frankly, awful. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Woodstock water contains a number of contaminants. According to the Environmental Working Group of Washington, D.C., the following all have potential cancer effects:
The Dibromochloromethane it contains has 8.5x the Group’s guideline.
The nitrate and nitrite it contains has 12x the Group’s guideline.
The Dichloroacetic acid it contains, has 91x the Group’s guideline.
The Bromodichloromethane it contains has 110x the Group’s guideline.
The Chloroform it contains has 141x the Group’s guideline.
The Trichloroacetic acid it contains has 165x the Group’s guideline.
The Haloacetic acids it contains has 366x the Group’s guideline.
The total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) it contains has 450x the Group’s guideline.
Let me turn to the hundreds of additional residences that the Town may soon be asked to connect onto its completely inadequate and potentially cancer causing water supply. Pursuant to its Water Emergency Powers, once a town declares a water emergency, which Woodstock has, it is empowered to implement mandatory water use restrictions. Under these conditions, the Town may prohibit new connections.
Virginia Code § 15.2-2121 allows local governments to regulate water and sewer connections, ensuring that the water source is capable of furnishing the needs of the inhabitants. If a new development would exceed the existing, limited capacity of the water supply during a drought, the town can legally deny the connection.
During severe droughts, such as those that might necessitate bans on lawn watering and car washing, as Woodstock’s does, the priority is to maintain sufficient water for human consumption, sanitation, and fire protection. Accordingly, new connections can properly be denied.
So, share this with the builders of the housing who were haplessly expecting to hook onto this awful water system, and all of those potential house purchasers, who surely don’t want to buy a home served by such a nasty water system.
Nonetheless, there must be a fix. Put the Woodstock Reservoir off of Millertown Road back on line. Rebuild the reservoir against the mountain east of Town. And some readers are surely aware of nearby springs that produce hundreds of thousands of gallons a day.
— Brad Pollack is a former attorney and former member of the Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors
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