Even with the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir now full, questions remain as to how the reservoir got so low during late September and early October.
According to Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority staff, nobody is sure why the reservoir declined so quickly, but leaking stream release gates and the authority releasing more than the required amount of water into the Rivanna River could have accelerated the drop.
But the authority issued a drought watch, which enacts voluntary water use restrictions, on Oct. 3.
At an RWSA meeting Oct. 24, while answering questions about the drought, Mawyer said the authority had been over-releasing water into the Rivanna.
Overall, 108.84 million extra gallons of water were released in August.
In the recent interview, Mawyer said the RWSA wants to release a little more water than the required amount, but that on some days in August the authority should have adjusted the gate more closely to the required amount.
There are three pipes, or gates, that let water out of the reservoir.
The metered gate is the main release pipe.
Mawyer said the two unmetered gates were leaking, releasing a total of about 3 million gallons per day that, until early October, were not being counted in the total release figures.
Even a brand-new gate has allowable leakage through it.” Currently, the RWSA has lowered the amount leaking to about a half million gallons a day total, and that is being factored into the required release.