Can’t Sell Its Water to Private Entity

 

   Thursday, May 24 — On the eve of opening bids for the purchase of its water system, the City of Falls Church was notified today that the general counsel of the U.S. Army  “has elected to let stand” a May 17, 2012 legal opinion that water from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Washington Aqueduct can be sold only to a public, and not to any private, entity, in accordance with a 1947 law. A memo to this effect was emailed today from Craig Schmauder, deputy general counsel of the Corps, to relevant parties in Falls Church and Fairfax County this afternoon.