Charlottesville, VA… November 10, 2025… Beginning Sunday, November 16, Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority and its contractor, Sagres Construction, will conduct night work at the Lewis Street & Fontaine Avenue intersection. Construction crews will install a new 30-inch finished-water transmission main as part of the Central Water Line Project. Work hours will be from 8 PM to 5 AM. Temporary lane closures with flagging operations will take place. The night work is expected to last four nights, but may extend due to potential unplanned weather interruptions. The night work is meant to reduce traffic impacts around the heavily traveled corridor. Once the intersection work is complete, construction activities will revert to regular daytime hours.

Active Construction Area

Lewis Street Construction

Background

The Central Water Line Project will improve the Urban Area Drinking Water System by installing a finished water transmission pipe through the southern and central portions of Charlottesville. It is being constructed of 24-inch and 30-inch ductile iron pipes and span approximately five miles. The new finished water transmission pipe will connect transmission main pipes from both the South Rivanna Water Treatment Plant and Observatory Water Treatment Plant to enhance drinking water pressure and reduce outages due to pipe breaks. This project marks a significant endeavor that will provide immediate benefits upon completion for current and future generations.

The project has been broken down into two phases with Phase 1 having nine stages. Sagres Construction is currently working on Phase 1, Stage 1, of the project. Completion of both phases is expected in 2029.

Stage 1 Construction

Additional Information

For more information about the project and to sign up for regular updates, please visit https://rivannawater.org/central-water-line-project/.

System-Wide Water Infrastructure Upgrades

The Central Water Line is one of several projects currently under construction by RWSA. Over the next five years, RWSA will invest more than $300 million to enhance our urban raw water storage capabilities, raw water transmission pipelines, and transmission pipelines for finished water (treated drinking water). The purpose of these projects is to improve the capacity, redundancy, and resiliency of our drinking water systems. Doing so will help prevent unplanned outages and ensure residents have a constant, reliable, clean supply of water at their tap.

Water Distribution Network No Title or Descriptors

  1. New Earthen Dam – In 2014, RWSA completed building a new dam at the Ragged Mountain Reservoir.
  2. Water Treatment Plant Improvements – Recent facility renovations and upgrades have increased treatment capacity.
  3. Ragged Mountain Reservoir Pool Fill Project – RWSA will fully utilize the reservoir’s storage capacity by adding 700 million gallons of water for a total capacity of 2.1 billion gallons.
  4. Ragged Mountain Reservoir to Observatory Water Treatment Plant Raw Water Line and Pump Station – A new 36” transmission pipe is replacing two smaller 70 and 100-year-old transmission pipes.
  5. South Rivanna River Crossing – A large 24” finished water transmission pipe is being added to better support the northern area in Albemarle County.
  6. Central Water Line – The Central Water Line will provide a high-flow, large-diameter finished water transmission pipe that will better connect RWSA’s treatment facilities, transmission pipes, water storage tanks, and water distribution piping in the urban area.
  7. South Fork Rivanna Reservoir to Ragged Mountain Reservoir Raw Water Line – The new line and pump station will allow RWSA to fully utilize the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir’s watershed and Ragged Mountain Reservoir’s storage capacity. It will also allow both water treatment plants to pull water from either or both reservoirs.