Fully half of Virginia is drained by Chesapeake Bay rivers, and two-thirds of the state's population lives within the Bay watershed. From the farm fields of the Shenandoah Valley to the pinewoods of the Eastern Shore, for most Virginians the Bay is as close as the nearest creek or stream.

KING WILLIAM RESERVOIR

Victory! Reservoir Project Cancelled!

On September 22, 2009, the Newport News City Council voted to end the two-decades-old King William Reservoir project.

The formal end to the King William reservoir is a great victory for Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) members, trustees, staff, and supporters, as well as thousands of citizens across Virginia who for years vigorously opposed the environmentally destructive reservoir.

"We are thrilled that Newport News is finally abandoning the reservoir project," said Ann Jennings, CBF Virginia Executive Director. "It's very gratifying, not only for CBF and the other partners, but to the many legislators, scientists, federal employees, and citizens who passionately, persistently fought to protect their homes, the Mattaponi River, and the Chesapeake Bay."

The City Council's decision to kill the reservoir stems directly from a legal challenge brought by CBF, the Alliance to Save the Mattaponi, the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Mattaponi Tribe, and the Southern Environmental Law Center in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.  The lawsuit challenged the federal permit issued to Newport News for the reservoir. CBF and its partners long opposed the 1,500-acre reservoir, arguing it is unnecessary, that other practical, less environmentally destructive alternatives exist, and that the city's plan to mitigate for lost wetlands cannot work.

A U.S. District Court ruled in March that the permit was arbitrary, capricious, and therefore invalid. The United States chose not to appeal the ruling. The Army Corps of Engineers suspended the permit in the spring and ordered Newport News to provide additional information supporting the permit.

These decisions sealed the reservoir's fate. Given the court's ruling and the Army Corps' request for additional information, Newport News officials concluded the best course is to abandon the project and pursue alternative sources to supply the city's future water needs.

If built, the reservoir would have destroyed more than 430 acres of pristine nontidal wetlands, threatened Virginia's American shad population, and flooded Native American cultural sites. The wetland loss alone would have represented the single largest permitted loss of wetlands in the Mid-Atlantic region in the history of the Clean Water Act.