VIRGINIA: STANLEY
Education Is Key to Protecting Ground Water in
Stanley, VA
Background
The Town of Stanley, Virginia (population within town limits is 1,356) is located in
southeastern Page County in the Shenandoah Valley, approximately 90 miles from
Washington, D.C. Agriculture is the dominant land use in the community, with
intermittent residential, commercial and industrial uses throughout the region.
Manufacturing is the town's major employment sector, with industries located in and
around the town. The nearest city is Harrisonburg, which provides major employment,
education, and shopping opportunities.
Like other small communities in the Shenandoah Valley, Stanley depends on ground
water wells for its drinking water supply. The town's water is supplied by a series of
limestone and sandstone formations formed over 500 million years ago. Much of Page
County has consolidated sedimentary rocks (including limestone, dolomite, shale and
conglomerate) and clay substrate. Due to the region's karst hydrogeology, there are
examples of surface and ground water interaction where surface streams disappear
underground and large springs serve as the headwaters of surface stream flow.
Stanley's primary water system consists of five wells and two storage tanks with a
capacity of 0.56 million gallons, and the secondary system consists of an additional well.
The water system has 1,556 connections serving a total population of 3,800 within and
outside town limits. The water is untreated and has excellent water quality. The safe
yield of the town's wells is estimated to be 513,000 million gallons per day (mgd),
whereas the consumption level in 2001 was 345,000 mgd. In May 2001, there were
1,426 connections to the town's public water system; approximately half of the
connections were for single-family detached homes outside of town limits.
The major land uses surrounding the town's wells are residential, commercial,
agricultural, and industrial. Most of Stanley's production wells are overlain by up to 120
feet of clay. The clay restricts the movement of water (and contaminants) from the land
surface into the underlying aquifer. Even with the natural protection provided by the clay,
the Town needs to ensure that land use activities will not contaminate the water supply.
One concern is the numerous businesses that utilize toxic and hazardous materials,
another is the fact that the northern end of the current landfill lies within the recharge
area of one of the town wells. Agricultural practices such as the use of fertilizers and the
spreading of poultry litter are an additional threat to water quality. A further concern is
that Stanley's aquifer experiences very high flow rates under rapid recharge conditions
(such as storm events), which facilitates the transport of surface contaminants to the
ground water system. Surface runoff can also enter sinkholes (which are abundant in
Stanley) and rapidly enter the aquifer.
Priority Contamination Threats
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Toxic and hazardous materials, fertilizers, and poultry litter are the priority threats to
Stanley's drinking water sources.
Local Involvement and Developing the Protection Plan
With assistance from the Lord Fairfax Planning District Commission (PDC), the town
initiated a wellhead protection program. The program is based in the town's Department
of Public Works, and is directed by the Town Superintendent. Preliminary program
funding was acquired in 1994 through a Wellhead Protection Grant from the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The primary tasks of the program are to (1)
collect baseline information about the community's water supply, including a source
water area delineation study, (2) develop public education and outreach efforts, and (3)
recommend protection and management measures.
Because public acceptance and support for resource protection ordinances are
essential, public education has always been a primary focus of the wellhead protection
program. Early in the program, town officials recognized the need to educate local
citizens about drinking water protection, and developed a brochure for distribution to all
water customers. This six-panel brochure (funded by the EPA's Wellhead Protection
Demonstration Grant) describes the source of Stanley's drinking water, provides a map
with the location of the town's six wells, and lists possible contamination sources. The
brochure also provides a list of simple things that citizens can do to protect their drinking
water, such as:
• Learn where the wellhead protection areas are and alert the Town
Superintendent to any potentially contaminating activities in those areas;
Have gasoline or home heating oil storage tanks checked for leaks or removed;
• Use lawn pesticides and fertilizers sparingly, and never exceed the
manufacturer's guidelines;
• Where possible, use "non-toxic" products which contain no harmful substances;
• Dispose of household cleaners, detergents, and other toxic and hazardous
wastes properly;
• Use agricultural chemicals sparingly, and follow directions on the label; and
• Take used motor oil to a gas station for recycling, and refrain from dumping it on
the ground or down a sink or storm drain.
Management Measures
In 1989, Page County's Board of Supervisors adopted a zoning ordinance (Chapter 125)
that provides municipalities with the authority to manage land use and guide
development to insure the protection of ground water. The zoning ordinance also
describes provisions that will preserve agricultural and forested lands for the protection
of surface water and ground water, and prohibits potentially polluting land uses (such as
junkyards) in source water protection areas. Specifically, the ordinance addresses:
• The use of land, buildings, structures and other premises for agricultural,
business, industrial, residential, floodplain and other specific uses;
• The size, height, area, bulk, location, erection, construction, reconstruction,
alteration, repair, maintenance, razing or removal of structures;
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• The areas and dimensions of open spaces to be left unoccupied by uses and
structures, including variations in sizes of lots based on whether a public or
community water supply or sewer system is available and used; and
• The excavation or mining of soil or other natural resources.
A recent management issue that was tackled by the Town of Stanley concerned two
wells in close proximity to a landfill. For some time, the Town wanted to close these two
wells and replace them with a new well on protected land in Page County. However, the
County was reluctant to provide the Town with the new well site because it was not
convinced that the landfill posed a threat to the existing water supply. County officials
changed their minds after Stanley delineated the well recharge area (the zone of
contribution is directly adjacent to the landfill) and implemented a monitoring program
that showed degraded water quality. After much negotiation, the Town of Stanley made
an agreement with Page County to drill a new well on protected county land so that the
two wells abutting the landfill can be closed. The new well was drilled in summer of
2006 and the transmission line is being installed in fall of 2006.
Utilizing guidance from the Rural Water Association, the Town is developing a wellhead
protection overlay district. The Superintendent has begun preliminary efforts with the
Page County Planning Commission to adopt this ordinance.
Contingency Planning
The Town of Stanley is working closely with the Norfolk and Southern Railroad, which
transports hazardous materials, to develop an emergency plan should there be a
derailment that might result in contaminants entering the water system. The plan will
cover how the spill would be contained and what other emergency actions would need to
be undertaken. The Town has identified several potential hazardous materials sites in or
near the well recharge areas, and is cleaning up these potential locations. For example,
the Town assists with the removal of old underground fuel tanks, and has helped remove
tanks from a local gasoline station in a recharge area that went out of business.
Measuring Program Effectiveness
Stanley's source water protection program has received several awards for its
conservation efforts, including a 2001 EPA (Region III) Source Water Protection Award.
Stanley's citizens appreciate the quality of their drinking water and take pride in the
wellhead protection work that their community is accomplishing.
For further information, contact:
Mr. Terry Pettit, Town Superintendent
Town of Stanley
Telephone: 540-778-3454, x24
stanleysuper@earthlink.net
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