It also has a growing interest in those lands

It also has a growing interest in those lands because they provide wildlife habitat, watershed protection and many other values, Mr. Dennis said.

PEC’s aim is to secure voluntary action to get permanent protection for private property.

Among the PEC’s concerns is the area’s water supply, which is extremely restricted, he said.

The amount of available groundwater in the upper Rappahannock basin is as yet unknown, he said.

“Noboby knows because nobody ever spent the money to do the necessary studies,” he said.

“Around the region where pump tests have been required, I think there’s substantial indication that pump tests reduce the flow or other wise temporarily desurpt nearby wells,” said Mr. Dennis.

In Fauquier and Loudoun counties there is already some evidence that water is not in endless supply.

The Dew’berry and Davis study, which looked into the water supply in the designated service districts in Fauquier, indicated to the PEC that the county should consider curbing its development.

“I read the Dewberry and Davis study to read, ‘Well you know, you are right at the edge of the water supply, both surface and subsurface and may be really stretching it,’ ” said Mr. Dennis.

Loudoun, too, may be over extending its development potential in some areas, Mr. Dennis said.

“I really think some of these proposals for the development of Round Hill and Purcellville and places like that have not been done with enough thought as to where the water supply is going to come from,” he said.

“I think that in the long run, it’s going to be the county governments that are going to suffer... When [people’s | wells go dry they are going to demand that the county do something about it.”

“Arid I think the counties are going to find that there’s almost nothing they can do about it,” he added.

But the depth of the water supply in the region remains an un