Public-Private Partnerships and Extension of Water and Sewer to Existing Communities

Extension of public water and sanitary sewer facilities to legacy communities has become an important issue within Loudoun County, Virginia. Loudoun Water, the Authority chartered to provide service to unincorporated Loudoun County, has recently turned to Public-Private Partnerships as a way to complete these extensions. After exhausting external funding opportunities, agreements were created between Loudoun Water, local government, and private landowners to fund necessary extensions to remediate an industrial park's failed on-site treatment system. Local government provided the crucial link between Loudoun Water and private landowners, allowing the landowners to finance the project over time, through additional voluntary taxation, while Loudoun Water constructed facilities without directly accepting tax dollars. The resulting project developed an important framework for Public-Private Partnerships within Loudoun County, which will be used to remediate environmental concerns in other legacy communities.