Southwest Virginia has been hit with both massive snowstorms and rain showers since the start of the year.
All of the rainwater, melted snow, and water run off get collected into reservoirs and dams. It then gets put through a rigorous filtration system.
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“We disinfect it with a sodium hypochlorite, like [a] chlorine substance that will kill any type of bacteria or anything that we don’t want in our drinking water,” Western Virginia Water Authority Director of Public Relations Sarah Baumgardner.
Different seasons mean different amounts of water usage. Reservoir levels are normally at their lowest in the fall, thanks to high water usage in the summer, with the reservoir levels getting higher once the rain comes in.
“All of that drought and hardened soil, it can actually create problems for flash flooding sometimes because the soil was kind of panicking in a way. [It’s] not used to absorbing all the water,” 10 News Meteorologist Delaney Willis said.
A slower and more drawn-out rain can help prevent flash flooding.
“What we want in a drought status like we have now, we want kind of that slow soaking rainfall, and that really affects the weather in a way that we can mitigate the drought impacts at the same time while not seeing that flash flooding issue,” Willis said.
The Western Virginia Water Authority has plans for these types of issues.
“At Carvins Cove, the way the dam was built in 1928 was that if there is a spillway - so that if it reaches full pond - anything above that actually comes over the dam and goes down Carvins Creek,” Baumgardner said.
With recent snow and rain, Carvins Cove has seen reservoir levels go up by two and a half feet since mid-February.