FARMVILLE — Water levels in Mottley Lake “will decrease through time as a result of aggregate mining,” according to a report based on field observations by Thomas E. Rice, PG, an economic geologist.

“The time factor of when the Lake will be impacted is unknown,” Rice writes in his report to town manager Gerald Spates.

The Town of Farmville paid Rice to evaluate whether or not a proposed Luck Stone quarry operation planned on property adjacent to Mottley Lake would impact a body of water purchased by the Town as an emergency supply of water in case of severe drought.

Rice, who presented his findings to Town Council during its February work session last week, was highly complimentary of Luck Stone Corporation and said that he, personally, does not oppose the proposed quarry.

“Luck Stone will be an asset to the community in many ways, some yet unrealized,” he wrote in his report’s concluding paragraph. “But the importance of an adequate municipal water supply is not only more important, but essential.”

The Town is sending Luck Stone a copy of Rice’s report and hopes the company will agree to help install deep wells on the Mottley Lake property as an insurance policy back-up in case the quarrying were to impact the lake’s water levels.

When contacted by the Herald about the report, Ben Thompson, Land Use Development Director for Luck Stone, said the company would await receipt of the study for review and a response.

“While our rezoning request included a hydrogeologic report,” Thompson said in an email, “we recognized at that time the need for additional studies that would speak in greater detail to the movement and levels of groundwater. Our zoning permit carries several proffers requiring Luck to analyze and monitor water both on our site and on surrounding properties, including Mottley Lake. We have two specific proffers that are directly related to Mottley Lake’s dam and its water quality and quantity.”

Luck Stone is applying to the Virginia Department of Mines and Mineral Resources for a permit to operate a granite quarry, with the pit location to be developed on 330 acres of property approximately five miles west of Farmville, off US 460. Mottley Lake is located several hundred yards from where Town officials expect the quarry site, itself, to be located on those 330 acres.

Rice told council members last week, “I started this project like any other, going out there, looking at the ground, studying the rock, looking at fractures and seeing where the water is. And it took a day or so but then it dawned on me that this whole thing is about 8,260 souls downstream of Mottley Lake.

“There’s not enough room for error to put this off until something happens next door. The plumbing (the area’s geology) is in place to impact Mottley,” he said.

Noting that quarries are clean operations and very highly regulated, Rice said, “I’m for the quarry going in but this aspect needs to be worked out, and the sooner the better.”

Rice, a Farmville resident, told council members that Mottley Lake “will be impacted sooner or later. By how much, even, is an unknown.”

The economic geologist said that a quarry operation will cut into fractures that are water-filled, that took eons of time to fill. “In order for them to work (the quarry), they have to put pumps in the bottom and pump the water out. Those fractures are connected with Mottley…It’s all connected. So through time—it takes a while—but then eventually as it goes down it starts pulling the water towards those pumps.”

Rice said he believes Mottley Lake “can’t be more than 35 feet deep” and said the ground goes up about a hundred feet to where the quarry will be and that the estimates are the quarrying will go down 400 feet.

“So that’s roughly 300 feet below the bottom of Mottley Lake. So with the close proximity—and there’s only about 400 feet between that wall of the quarry and Mottley. It’s not very far and there’s fractures, that I have marked out in my report, that connect the two. So it can be impacted,” Rice said.

Council member Dr. Edward I. Gordon asked if that impact could be sudden.

In Rice’s opinion, “When it happens it will be in a disaster type situation. It’ll be in a horrible drought and they will have been mining for awhile and they’ll be monitoring these wells that they have set up there and everything will be looking fine and then all of a sudden, yes, it will drop fast.”

Dr. Gordon asked about the probability of something like happening, telling Rice, “you’re saying that eventually it’s going to happen.”

Rice looked at the councilman and said “there will be impact there. You don’t know when.”

Dr. Gordon then asked about the probability of something happening in the next 50 years and Rice answered, “you can’t say. You don’t know what the mining rate will even be…You could spend an awful lot of money to try to answer those questions by drilling holes and in the end you may get pretty accurate or it may not be accurate at all.

Mottley Lake, Rice added, “is on top of a fault.”

The Appomattox River, he said, in response to a question from council member Sally Thompson, would not be threatened by any quarrying at the proposed site.

Council member David E. Whitus asked Rice for his “bottom-line recommendation to the Town” and Rice said the Town should “get with Luck Stone and try to work out, negotiate a deal, where you come up with a solution, that you have some additional water ready in case something happens (to Mottley Lake).”

Drilling “deep wells,” Rice said, “would be my recommendation, as opposed to surface water somewhere. And it…may be the cheapest route. High-yield wells. I’m not talking about a six-inch household (well).”

Wells capable of providing one million gallons of water per day to meet the needs of the Town’s water system.

Rice is optimistic that Luck Stone will agree, saying, “I would think that Luck Stone would be glad, at the outset before they get going, to help you on this. It’s going to be to their advantage to do something great in the area before they get going. I would think they would jump at that opportunity, but I can’t speak for them.”

Prince Edward County Supervisor Jim Wilck, invited by Spates to attend the meeting, said Luck Stone has “an excellent reputation” and his statement was greeted with agreement and affirmation from those around the table.

Luck Stone Corporation’s permit application must undergo “a thorough technical review” by the Department of Mines and Mineral Resources, Thomas C. Bibb, Engineering Manager with the department, told the Town. And the required public hearing will be held after that review is complete but prior to issuance of a permit, according to Bibb.

No date has been set but Bibb assured the town manager that “we will notify you well in advance of the hearing location, time and date.”

Spates said last week that Rice will represent the Town of Farmville at that public hearing.

Thompson told the Herald that Luck Stone is “currently conducting additional water studies for our application to the Department of Mines, Minerals & Energy. Due to our extensive analysis of the Prince Edward site prior to moving forward with an application, Luck is confident in this site’s viability and how we will operate upon the site. However, we are respectful of the necessity to gain the confidence of others and always strive to have the greatest amount of knowledge possible on our sites. We are extremely excited about our property and partnership with the Prince Edward community.”