Public Comment Period for Lake Accotink Dredging Ends April 1st

In October of 2019, after several years of meetings between citizens and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (BOS), the Board voted unanimously to dredge Lake Accotink to a depth of 8 feet. Several years of studies and deliberations have gone on since then, no dredging has taken place, and now in 2023, the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) and Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES) have made a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors that Lake Accotink be allowed to fill in with silt and no longer dredge it. If this recommendation is accepted by the Board of Supervisors, Fairfax County’s beloved Lake Accotink might not be a lake in the future.

There are several reasons FDPA and DPWES came to this conclusion. “The condition of Lake Accotink today is largely due to rapid development within the Accotink Creek watershed in the mid-20th century, which resulted in increased stormwater runoff that eroded streams and sent large amounts of sediment into the U.S. Army drinking water reservoir that became Lake Accotink,” one analysis reads. Also, the cost of dredging the lake went from 30 million in 2019 to 95 million in 2023. The cost of follow up dredging for the next 20 years is predicted to be 300 million, making the total projected cost to be 395 million.

If you, like many other residents who don’t want to lose Lake Accotink, think there must be alternatives to letting the lake fill up with silt and become a wetlands area, please make the Board of Supervisors aware of your opinions. Let the BOS know what you think the benefits of maintaining Lake Accotink as a “lake” are. Let the BOS know what Accotink Lake means to you and your family.

Below is the contact information for the DPWES. Leave your comments at the end of the survey. Also included is a list of the 10 Board of Supervisors email addresses. Send your comments to each of the supervisors. In addition, send your comments to our national and local representatives.

Let your voice be heard!! Comments will be accepted until April 1, 2023.

Contacts

Department of Public Works and Environmental Services – https://publicinput.com/a7178

Jeffrey C. McKay – chairman@fairfaxcounty.gov

James R. Walkinshaw – braddock@fairfaxcounty.gov

John W. Foust – dranesville@fairfaxcounty.gov

Rodney L. Lusk – franconia@fairfaxcounty.gov

Walter L. Alcorn – huntermill@fairfaxcounty.gov

Penelope A. Gross – mason@fairfaxcounty.gov

Daniel G. Storck – mtvernon@fairfaxcounty.gov

Dalia A. Palchik – providence@fairfaxcounty.gov

Pat Herrity – springfield@fairfaxcounty.gov