Study Background and Description
Following Board of Supervisors (Board) approval of the formation of the Task Force on the Future of Lake Accotink in May 2023, the Task Force reviewed past dredging studies and county staff recommendations to ensure that all options have been considered to preserve Lake Accotink in the most sustainable, equitable, and cost effective manner. The Task Force concluded its work and reported its findings to the Board on December 12, 2023. Task Force meetings, video recordings and meeting minutes can be found at Task Force Meeting/Materials Archive. Task Force’s report is located at Lake Accotink Findings Report.
On January 23, 2024, the Board approved Task Force’s findings which provided a path forward that has the potential to preserve Lake Accotink for generations to come. This path forward also revealed the need for additional study and analyses of various options identified for long-term preservation of Lake Accotink as a smaller lake. This mainly includes dredging and maintaining a smaller lake, use of dredged material on-site, and creating a wetland and grassland area. These alternatives will be evaluated in a preservation (feasibility) study with community input.
DPWES has been working with an interdisciplinary team of County staff, United States Geological Survey (USGS) staff, and a team of consulting engineers, scientists, and professionals to define the scope and appropriate approach to support the Lake Accotink preservation as a smaller lake as requested in the Preservation of Lake Accotink Joint Board Matter (Board Matter), presented and approved by the Board on January 23, 2024.
Subsequently, DPWES issued a task order to a consultant in July 2024 for the sedimentation study and the Board approved funding for USGS for their scope. A second task order was also issued in July to a consultant for outreach and community engagement. Lastly, using feedback from the recent online survey, DPWES updated the feasibility study scope and schedule. The feasibility study will commence in early April. The community engagement plan is provided in the Public Engagement website under Additional Resources.
The Lake Accotink team is committed to having a robust and inclusive public outreach and engagement plan for the study, to include increased transparency during the study phase. The team updated the community engagement plan to incorporate public comments received in the survey to enhance outreach and engagement during the Lake Accotink Preservation study for a smaller lake.
Lastly, Fairfax County Park Authority has initiated work with a consultant team to assess the condition of the Lake Accotink dam and identify any maintenance needs to support preservation of a smaller lake for the foreseeable future. The consultant team has completed the assessment of the earthen embankment part of the dam. Although efforts for the inspection of the concrete part of the dam, including the stilling basin, has been initiated, work could not be continued because of the malfunction of the sluice gate which regulates the water level in the lake. Currently, the issue with the sluice gate has been identified and efforts are underway to repair its stem.
