It very well may be a one-of-a kind air conditioning system. It may even be outdated, inefficient, and expensive; but 400 households in the Lake Anne vicinity currently rely upon RELAC, which is owned by Aqua Virginia for more comfortable indoor temperatures.
The RELAC air conditioning system pumps chilled water to homes where blowers blow air over the chilled water creating cooler air inside the home. RELAC chills the water by pumping cold water from Lake Anne into chillers to cool the chilled water.
Hidden Creek, a once- public/now-private golf course has the right to use water from Lake Anne to water its golf course and to keep its greens green. The corporation that developed Reston in the early 1960’s gave the golf course permission to use the reservoir as a water source and four years ago after being taken to court by the Reston Association, a judge agreed.
This summer a storm seems to be brewing in the Reston area; and not the kind that bring rain. Over the past weeks residents have watched the water level in the lake drop dramatically leaving behind four-foot deep muddy beaches; sticks and debris once submerged are now visible. Precipitation levels for the month of July are below normal and not, dry weather is partly to blame. So is evaporation…….and Hidden Creek.
Hidden Creek draws water off every night to maintain the course. They have the right to do that, a judge even agreed. RELAC has been forced to add temporary pumpers to pump water from deeper, therefore cooler parts of the lake in order to provide relief for home owners.
Most of the home owners agree that Hidden Creek have a right to maintain their business, but also feel they aren’t making any effort to be creative during this situation. While RELAC is running 3 chillers full –time to chill the water, it appears Hidden Creek may be exasperating the problem. Resident Karen Noel wonders, “If they looked into the possibility of using grey water? Assumedly, other golf courses have similar problems. Do they drain nearby lakes? No.”
Both businesses, Hidden Creek and RELAC obviously rely upon the water in Lake Anne. Both have customers who benefit from the water in Lake Anne. Who’s right? I don’t even have an opinion in that matter, but Hidden Creek has agreed to a face-to-face meeting the Reston Association so hopefully they can come to a mutual agreement.