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With the Beaverdam spillway renovation project nearing completion, Loudoun Water and NOVA Parks expect to allow recreational activities on the water at Beaverdam Reservoir this summer. However, the exact timeframe for re-opening is unclear at this point due to construction delays. Record-setting rainfall over the last year has impacted the original schedule.
The dam embankment needs to be completed prior to refilling the reservoir, and presently the fill material at the site that will be used to construct the embankment is too wet to place and compact. We are hopeful that weather conditions improve to help dry the material so it can be used for construction.
Once the embankment area is complete, we can begin refilling the reservoir. At that point, we will have a more definitive timeframe for safely allowing people back on the water.
Our timeline:
2017 - 2019: Reservoir water access closed to the public
Summer of 2019 – Actual Date TBD: Reservoir water access re-opened for the public
Spring of 2020: Estimated to begin Reservoir Park construction
Spring of 2021: Estimated Reservoir Park construction completion
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At least it is something...
Thanks, Ernie!
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There's no fish in that place. Not worth waiting for the opening.
;-)
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Thanks for the update!
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Last night, the LoCo Planning Commission met and approved the plans for the eventual opening and build-out of Beaverdam Res Park. Lots of zoning issues needed to be resolved. They now send it off to the Board of Supervisors for final approval. I have already talked to Ron Meyer (my sup) and he will vote yes. I urge everyone to contact their supervisors and let them know that you want them to vote in the affirmative when this gets to the BOS.
It was an 8-1 vote with the only nay given by Mr. Jennings, the chair of the group. He was not at the meeting but was on the phone. I later learned that this was the same Jennings who was the GM at Lo Water that had closed the reservoir for good. He is the guys that we had some issues with and was later removed as the GM. After that, NoVA Parks and Lo Water partnered up and we are now in a good place.
The res should open up this summer and build out of the park will start in 2020 with a completion target of 2021.
While this will bring more people to the res it's a whole lot better than having the res closed which was the only option Lo Water had before they partnered with NoVA Parks.
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Thanks for the update.
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Thanks for sharing the updates!
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Are we going to be able to launch our own jon boats?
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gonefishing wrote:
Are we going to be able to launch our own jon boats?
Park won't open until 2020. The final design has not yet been approved. Once that happens, we will get a more detailed plan. I am not involved in that.
My understanding is that they will rent some boats (no clue as to what) and that you can launch kayaks. Do not know anything about launching a boat.
I am sure they will have update meetings and I will post them on here.
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It would be a real shame if they don't allow you to launch a jon boat. I've been fishing my Jon boat there for years. It's one of the main reasons that I still own it!
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Man drowns working on dam!
https://wtop.com/loudoun-county/2019/05 … un-co-dam/
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Beaverdam is a water reservoir for Loudoun only now since LoH2O bought it from Fairfax City.
The post above was about jon boats. There will be no gas motors...except crew team safety boats.
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Supervisor Meyers just reported that "tonight, the Board approved this park, which is owned by Loudoun Water and will be run by NOVA Parks. Coming in early 2021 — trails, rowing, fishing, and more! This will be a tremendous asset to our community."
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Will they open before then in any capacity?
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From LoCo Water & NOVA Parks websites:
Our timeline:
2017 - 2019: Reservoir water access closed to the public
Summer of 2019 – Actual Date TBD: Reservoir water access re-opened for the public
Spring of 2020: Estimated to begin Reservoir Park construction
Spring of 2021: Estimated Reservoir Park construction completion
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I know they are planning a nice news story this summer when they open as both LoCo Water and NOVA Parks celebrate their 60th birthdays this year.
From this point forward, everything is on the operational side (Ernie not involved). The political stuff is done!
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Update from their Facebbok page- Good Morning! While the reservoir still remains closed, we would like to report that the natural filling of the reservoir has begun. Since the rate of re-fill is very weather dependent, we do not have a definitive date for re-opening. We will continue to monitor the water level and will provide an update when an expected opening date has been established. Thank you for your support and your continued patience.
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Thanks Ernie!
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I checked out the reservoir today. Along some parts of shore it looked almost like the water had dropped a few feet recently, though I suppose it could be capillary action drawing water up. Unless they plan to open it to water activities with the level well below full, it won't be open until next year. Hope for lots of rain.
So much stuff has grown up. Lots of stuff for fish to hide in, should be great for all the fry of the spawn next year. Many sycamore trees growing up, some are 6ft tall.
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Man, that looks great!
I think you are right...gonna be a while.
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Great pictures. Too low. Too bad...
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https://loudounnow.com/2019/07/05/loudo … Hvzyi2ADbg
Loudoun’s Reservoir Refilling, Park Plans Progressing
With a little help from Mother Nature, the Beaverdam Creek Reservoir on the western edge of Ashburn will soon return to its role as Loudoun’s largest body of water. As it slowly refills, plans are advancing to transform it into the county’s largest park.
When full, it looks like a peaceful lake, with wooded trails, birds and insects circling, and fishers and high school crew teams cutting across the water. But Beaverdam Reservoir is an artificial lake, storing 1.5 billion gallons of water for Loudoun Water, and in 2016 it was drained to complete repairs to its dam. Today it’s a broad, grassy, muddy depression with a creek trickling through it, surrounded by woods.
Summer of Love Tile
Those repairs are now almost finished, and this month the valve at the dam that had let all the water out was closed. Now, said Loudoun Water Deputy General Manager Mark Peterson, to wait for rain. After a record-setting rainfall had delayed work on the dam, now that the utility is ready to refill the reservoir, the rain has slowed considerably.
“The good news is, it’s in refill,” Peterson said. “The hard part is guessing when that is going to be at a level where it feels safe enough for people to get back on.” He joked that after a year of record rain, “around the time, of course, that we started, it’s been so hot and dry.”
When it refills, fishing, boating, paddling and other activities on the 622-acre reservoir will open up again.
Loudoun Water purchased the reservoir from the City of Fairfax in 2014 and initially closed it to public assess, citing liability concerns. But after partnering with NOVA Parks, Loudoun Water reopened the reservoir to public access in May 2015. On sunny weekends, the small parking lot off Mt. Hope Road is packed with visitors.
“It’s such a special place in Loudoun County, and people had been around it, and it can work well if you do it right to allow the public access,” Peterson said. But, he said, as a water authority, managing public access to a park was never part of their expertise: “It’s not part of what we do, so we knew going in that if we were going to commit long-term to continuing to allow the public to access it, it made a lot of sense” to partner with the parks authority.
And sometime next year, it is expected, construction on new park facilities will begin, on 71 acres of NOVA Parks’ adjacent 370-acre Brambleton Regional Park.
The concept plan for Reservoir Park includes a central pavilion, picnic shelters, boat ramps and miles of hiking trails.
County supervisors approved zoning changes in May to allow for that, and while it’s still under design, a concept plan provided by Bowman Consulting shows more parking, gardens, wetlands, boating and watercraft rentals, a pavilion with concessions, educational areas, and trails throughout, including a loop trail all the way around the park. That construction is expected to begin sometime in spring 2020 and wrap up in spring 2021.
NOVA Parks Executive Director Paul Gilbert said it will be the “central park” of Loudoun County.
“When you think about how large it is, and the range of amenities that it will have, it will really draw and be a very special place,” Gilbert said. “Whenever someone’s putting together a promotional video about the area, they will have images of this place, because it will be beautiful and spectacular.”
Together with the Brambleton Regional Park and another 145 acres of parkland on the other side of the reservoir, Gilbert said, it will be a 1,000-acre park in the heart of Loudoun County.
The recreation around the reservoir is guided by its ultimate use—a source of drinking water. And the design is shaped by the partnership between the water utility and the parks authority—what Gilbert called “the best of both perspectives.”
Education is one major component of that. Peterson said it will be a complement to the Aquiary, the educational facility at Loudoun Water’s headquarters.
“This is a really great way to have a sort of living learning environment, where you can go out and talk about shoreline preservation, and what is the role of that aquatic life, and how all these things are important to maintaining a healthy water system,” Gilbert said.
Although the water in the reservoir is treated before it enters the drinking supply, the utility’s first concern is still keeping the water as clean as possible. That means no gas-powered engines on the water, and no swimming.
But when the reservoir reopens for water access, there will still be plenty of hiking, paddling, fishing, picnicking, and sightseeing to do.
“Since the dawn of time, people wanted to be near the water,” Gilbert said. And in in the middle of Loudoun at Beaverdam Reservoir, there will be a lot of water.
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gonefishing wrote:
It would be a real shame if they don't allow you to launch a jon boat. I've been fishing my Jon boat there for years. It's one of the main reasons that I still own it!
It's been a while, but never had a problem launching a jon boat - w/ an electric trolling motor. Not sure about now, but since it's a water supply for Fairfax county, it's electric only
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