The Stafford County, Va., Board of Supervisors voted on Oct. 20, 2026 to authorize eminent domain to take land for a reuse water pipeline that, according to Potomac Local, will primarily be used to cool data centers. The outlet reported that the board's votes covered nine parcels and that each of the nine votes was 4-2-1. FXBG Advance reported the same tally.

The project is called the Northern Reuse Water and Return Wastewater Mains Project. It is a "purple pipe" system, the color code used for non-potable reclaimed water. Potomac Local reported that 10 property owners along the route settled with the developers building the system and nine did not. Potomac Local said the landowners who had not settled, including homeowners associations and individuals, triggered the county's condemnation. FXBG Advance described the board as approving a process that allows the county to take the parcels.

DataCenterFeed did not find official minutes of the meeting. The vote counts and the positions of individual supervisors below come from local press coverage.

The Vote

Potomac Local reported that Vice Chair Maya Guy and Rock Hill Supervisor Crystal Vanuch voted no on all nine matters. Griffis-Widewater Supervisor Tinesha Allen abstained. The 4-2-1 tally means four supervisors voted yes on each item. FXBG Advance confirmed the 4-2-1 result on all nine items, with Guy and Vanuch dissenting and Allen abstaining.

Chairman Deuntay Diggs said the county had already legally agreed to use eminent domain if the developers could not obtain the right-of-way themselves, according to Potomac Local. County Administrator Bill Ashton said the pipe will be county-owned public infrastructure and will be available to other businesses for industrial cooling, the outlet reported.

What the Board Was Asked to Approve

The county's public hearing notice for the Oct. 20 meeting, set for 6:30 p.m., listed condemnation and quick-take powers for the project as item 6. Save Stafford describes quick-take as a procedure under which a government may obtain possession and proceed with work while final compensation is still being resolved. The notice said the affected parcels are in the Aquia and Falmouth districts.

Several of the proposed resolutions in the notice cover land held by homeowners associations:

  • R26-305 covers Stone River HOA parcels. One parcel, 30S-3-A, would carry a 54,162-square-foot permanent easement and a 4,909-square-foot temporary easement, according to the notice. The resolution covers other parcels as well.
  • R26-306 covers Crescent Pointe and lists a 23,954-square-foot permanent easement and a 4,797-square-foot temporary easement.
  • R26-307 covers five Somerset Landing HOA parcels. The largest example in the notice is parcel 30NN-3-G, with a 99,881-square-foot permanent easement and a 47,397-square-foot temporary easement.

The notice lists proposed resolutions. It does not record how the board voted. The 4-2-1 tally on the nine matters comes from the press reports above. The notice itself lists ten resolutions (R26-305 through R26-313, and R26-315) covering more tax-map parcels than the nine the press reports cite, and DataCenterFeed could not reconcile the two counts from the sources reviewed.

The Pipeline and Its Intended Users

Save Stafford, a local advocacy group, has published an account of the system's scope. The group cites a county permit that describes approximately 27,000 linear feet each of 12-inch and 24-inch reuse pipeline and a 16-inch return force main. Save Stafford says the system will convey reclaimed water from the Aquia Wastewater Treatment Plant.

According to Save Stafford, the intended users named in the permit are Amazon Data Services' Potomac Church project and STACK Infrastructure's Stafford Technology Campus. The group also points to an Aug. 22, 2024 agreement between Amazon Web Services and Stafford County. It says Section 1.1(b) of that agreement provides that Amazon will request that the county use condemnation powers if Amazon cannot obtain the easements itself, and that the county will then pursue the acquisition. Save Stafford also reports that earlier Potomac Church proffers included a $7 million contribution toward a public reclaimed-water distribution system, and that Amazon has said it and STACK are investing more than $300 million in Stafford water infrastructure, which the group calls a developer statement rather than a verified accounting.

Save Stafford's framing is not neutral, and DataCenterFeed has not independently reviewed the permit or the agreement it cites. The group's account does match the statements reported by Potomac Local. Diggs described a legal commitment by the county to use eminent domain if the developers could not secure the right-of-way, and Ashton said the line would be county-owned and open to other industrial cooling customers.

Why Reuse Water Matters Here

Save Stafford says industrial cooling can create substantial water demand and that using treated wastewater for suitable industrial purposes can reduce demand on the drinking-water system. Stafford's project puts that approach in county-owned pipe, according to Ashton as reported by Potomac Local, and the route crosses land owned by homeowners associations. Potomac Local reported that Somerset Landing residents urged the board not to proceed because the path would run through woods owned by their homeowners association. In this case, the land acquisition depends partly on the county's condemnation authority rather than only on private negotiation.

None of the sources reviewed for this article report the pipeline's total construction cost, its design flow capacity, or how much water each named campus would use. The $7 million and $300 million figures above are Save Stafford's reports of developer proffers and statements, not a cost for this pipeline.

What Happens Next

According to Potomac Local and FXBG Advance, the board approved the process that allows the county to take the nine parcels whose owners did not settle. The sources reviewed do not give filing dates, court dates, or a construction start date for the Northern Reuse Water and Return Wastewater Mains Project, and no scheduled next step is reported.

Sources