Water and Life in Floyd County

How do we maintain adequate quantity and quality of water in Floyd County?

We could start by attending the Water and Life Event in Floyd County. The free Earth Day event is hosted by the Partnership for Floyd at Floyd County High School and will be open to the public at 9:30am on Saturday, April 19. The event will feature demonstrations, speakers and open discussions of problems and solutions for preserving water and life in Floyd County.

In Floyd County, more than 90% of all housing units are served by individual water systems. Virtually all of these homes depend on groundwater sources, either driven wells or springs.

In 2003, a study of 101 Floyd County household water samples done by the local Virginia Cooperative Extension Office found E. coli in 11% of all household water samples.

In the ensuing 5 years, Floyd’s population has grown significantly and there is more demand on the local aquifers than ever before. It is time to increase the general level of knowledge on the limitations and future prospects for clean drinking water in Floyd.

Every concerned citizen should be aware of the factors that affect water quality and should have a working understanding of essential water conservation techniques for making the most of the water available. They should also be familiar with the products and services that are available from area firms and individuals which help purify and conserve water.

There will be four panel speakers addressing water quantity and quality issues: Dr. M. Rupert Cutler, Vice-Chair of the Water Authority Board; Tambera (Tammy) D. Stephenson, Senior Water Supply Planner for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality; David Crawford of Water Resource Management; and Floyd County’s Fred First, author and environmentalist. Audience questions are encouraged and will be addressed during the talks and in discussions after the speakers have completed.

This is an outstanding opportunity for vendors of water and nature-care-related products as well as for professionals offering services related to water, soils and geology. There is no charge for participating in this event. Vendors will be able to meet with interested county residents who want to learn how to help maintain both adequate quantity and quality of water in the county.

If you have a product or service that will help Floyd County residents improve their water quality, or conserve water, or reuse water, please go to the floydearthday.com website. Fill out the signup form and you will be contacted by a member of the Partnership for Floyd with information on participating in this event.

This is the first event of its kind in Floyd County. If you want to have a part in improving the quality of water and life in Floyd County, visit floydearthday.com and get informed. If this is something you want to support in any way, use the signup form to let us know how you would like to help.