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bate on water use regulation that could affect the entire state.
Already legislators and citizens from rural areas have decried the legislation, introduced by the State Water Commission, as an infringement on private property rights and “another socialist scheme” perpetrated by government. They fear that the state will try to regulate water use statewide, leading to “inter-basin transfer” of water from rural areas which have plenty to urban areas which do not.
And they may be right. The State Water Commission, formed more than eight years ago, tabled a proposal in December to establish a statewide permit system for water use, but only to allow the State Water Control Board to collect more information about water supply.
“Current Virginia water law is archaic,” said Sen. Wiley F. Mitchell Jr. (R-Alexandria). “It is incapable of dealing with water supply concerns and it is incapable of dealing realistically with water quality concerns.”
Sen. Mitchell, who serves on the water commission, was infuriated by the Senate’s decision, which he said is “not only bad policy, it is dangerous policy for the health of this state.”
“What we did today is totally wrong,” he said after the vote. “It reflects, I think, that more of us are vulnerr
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