Town of Culpeper

The Town provides both surface municipal water and groundwater resources to residents. Our primary municipal water source is the 254-acre Pond Pelham reservoir located in Culpeper County. Additionally, we maintain three groundwater wells situated off Chandler Street within city limits. More groundwater wells are currently being developed to enhance our community waterworks in the near future.

Municipal water can originate from various sources including streams, lakes, reservoirs, springs, and wells. As water travels across land surfaces or through ground layers, it dissolves naturally-occurring minerals and, in some cases, radioactive materials. It may also pick up substances from animal presence or human activities.

Potential contaminants in source waters include:

• Microbial contaminants like viruses and bacteria from sewage treatment facilities, septic systems, agricultural operations, and wildlife
• Inorganic contaminants including salts and metals that occur naturally or result from urban runoff, wastewater discharge, oil/gas production, mining, or farming
• Pesticides and herbicides from agriculture, urban stormwater runoff, and residential usage
• Organic chemical contaminants, including synthetic and volatile compounds from industrial processes, petroleum production, gas stations, stormwater runoff, and septic systems
• Radioactive contaminants that may be naturally occurring or result from oil/gas production and mining activities

To ensure tap water safety, EPA regulations limit certain contaminants in public water systems. FDA regulations establish similar limits for bottled water to provide equivalent public health protection.

The Virginia Department of Health conducted a source water assessment of our system in 2002. Lake Pelham was determined to have high susceptibility to contamination based on state-approved Source Water Assessment Program criteria. The assessment report includes maps of the source water area, an inventory of known land use activities of concern, and documentation of any known contaminants from the previous 5-year period. This report is available at the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), Office of Water (ODW), Culpeper Field Office (CFO) at 400 South Main Street. Three wells that came online for Culpeper in January 2015 will be evaluated by the Source Water Assessment Program soon.

.. ...