Groundwater:
All rural residents, farms and businesses – as well as western Loudoun’s villages and incorporated towns – are completely dependent on getting reliable water supply from our groundwater.
Save Rural Loudoun is concerned that western Loudoun’s water tables have declined significantly in recent decades.
Our lives and livelihoods would be devastated if our wells go dry.
A recent study conducted by the Loudoun County Preservation and Conservation Coalition’s Agriculture Work Group confirmed that groundwater tables are subsiding, and that the current drawdown of western Loudoun’s groundwater is unsustainable.
Key findings include:
-
In many parts of western Loudoun, the water tables have fallen 10-40 feet since 2000.
-
Wells are packed in increasingly tightly, creating more and more risk that new wells will interfere with existing ones. 90% of existing wells are within 550 feet of another well.
-
Drought and changing rain and snow patterns have decreased the amount of water that sinks down to the water table, so that it no longer replaces the amount of water we are extracting. Between 2021 and 2024, precipitation was 40 inches below normal. We experienced another period of severe drought in 2025.
-
Hooking western Loudoun up to the main Loudoun Water water and sewer system that serves eastern Loudoun is not a viable solution.
-
Attempting to do that would cost billions and would require taking property from many western residents.
-
It would also require the complete and final urbanization of Loudoun’s remaining farms, fields and other rural areas, since a huge expansion in the number of rate payers would be needed to cover the costs.
SRL is actively working with the Coalition and other partners to help educate the public and our elected officials on this critical issue.
Our bulletins provide regular updates on the issues and on the actions we are seeking from our Municipal, County and State governments.
[link to the Bulletins & News page]