Speak Out on Proposed Reston Septic Site Thursday

Reston-area residents will have a chance to get more details about a septic waste receiving site that county officials are planning for Lake Fairfax Park land.

The current county dumping site is located on Colvin Run Road in Great Falls. Tank trucks deliver sewage from homes not tapped into the county sewer system — mostly ones on acreage in Great Falls and Oakton — and grease from area restaurants to the facility.

However the facility is outdated, has a flooding risk and other issues, says Fairfax County Park Authority Chair Bill Bouie.

The community meeting is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Bechtel’s Conference Center, 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Reston. Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins is expected to provide more information and answer questions.

Fairfax County’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services briefed park authority officials last week on its Septage Receiving Site Feasibility Study that found several reasons to move to a new site in Reston.

The county is proposing a secure, modern, odor-controlled facility off Hunter Mill Road. It is important to have the new plant located off a major road to minimize the impact on traffic, county officials said.

While the proposed new site is on park land, it is not in a part of Lake Fairfax Park that is accessible to citizens, said Bouie.

The Park Authority’s Area 6 Park Operations / Lake Fairfax Maintenance area is located in an isolated, employee-only part of the park. The septage facility would be heavily screened by trees and is not in a floodplain, according to the county’s proposal.