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The KWR Reservoir Project is made up of 7 phases or steps that cover activities spanning 15 years.  Click on the phase title or bar above to learn more about each phase.

Depending on the progress of the land and archeological teams, preliminary design efforts for pump stations, pipelines, and reservoir and dam facilities could begin as early as 2008. In order to keep the project on schedule with the VDEQ construction restriction, it will be necessary to have the design and bid packages finalized by early 2012. Bid and award dates will be subject to progress on renewal of the VWP Permit. The current work plan breaks the KWR program into 3 design projects. These include:

1.	the river pump station, intake, and transfer pipeline
2.	reservoir clearing, dam, primary and emergency spillways, road relocation, recreation facility, VDOT and dam safety permits, and utility relocations
3.	reservoir pump station, transfer pipeline, and directional drill crossings

The project schedule includes these design projects. Preliminary design sketches can be found in the reference section.

An RFP for the initial design project is scheduled for advertisement during the first quarter of 2008.

Reservoir Facilities - Construction

Current program work plans call for delivery of the project facilities by Design-Bid-Build. This approach provides the City with a high level of construction control and recognizes the importance of strict compliance with all federal, state and local permits. The current work plan breaks the KWR program into 3 construction projects. These include:

1.	river pump station, intake, and transfer pipeline
2.	reservoir clearing, dam, primary and emergency spillways, road relocation, recreation facility, VDOT and dam safety permits, and utility relocations
3.	reservoir pump station, transfer pipeline, and directional drill crossings

The project schedule includes these construction projects. Preliminary design sketches can be found in the reference section.

An RFP for the initial construction project is scheduled for advertisement during the second quarter of 2012.

Begin Filling Reservoir

The ability to begin filling the new lake is contingent on completion of many project components. These include the Mattaponi River pump station and transmission pipeline, as well as the reservoir, dam and spillway facilities. Additionally, the City’s U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit requires that all of the mitigation sites be constructed and approved prior to withdrawing water from the River. Lastly, flow and time-of-year constraints will also limit river withdrawals.

The current schedule calls for withdrawals to begin in 2017. To estimate total filling time for the 12.2 billion gallon lake, a safe yield computer model was used. This model includes a history of river and stream flows back to 1929. Using the historical record, the model can establish a probability and volume of withdrawals for any given month. The model also accounts for releases from the spillway to Cohoke Creek and natural inflows from the watershed.

The summary graphic illustrates that under the historical conditions contained in the model, 15 billion gallons of total lake and bank storage should be achieved within 30 months. The theoretical minimum time needed to fill the lake would be 6 months at a continuous rate of 75 million gallons per day.

Facilities On-line

As noted from the summary schedule, the current estimate for project completion is 2020. Projecting an on-line date for a large, complex project is always challenging. Literally hundreds of contingencies and dependencies, including weather conditions, must coalesce to meet such a long-term goal.

The King William Reservoir will be the sixth lake and second river intake in Waterworks’ regional surface water system. When combined with existing storage, the Chickahominy River intake, and deep well desalting facilities, the total system will have a safe yield of approximately 86 million gallons per day (mgd). This means that if the region were to experience a severe drought (comparable to the dust-bowl period of the late 1920’s and early 1930’s) the system could provide up to 86 mgd to communities stretching from King William County to Buckroe Beach in Hampton for the duration of such a drought without depletion.

Following completion of all project facilities, the total volume of useable storage in the Waterworks’ system will be approximately 20.4 billion gallons. This equates to 334 days of storage at the current regional water demand of over 61 mgd.