City of Manassas

Fairfax County Water Authority

The Fairfax County Water Authority is the largest water utility in Virginia, providing drinking water to 1.2 million people. Before the Authority existed, Fairfax County and many surrounding jurisdictions had no centralized water service. In Fairfax County alone, water was provided by over 26 public and private water agencies. The systems were a mixture of main sizes, materials, valves, and hydrants. There was no standardization between systems, and few of the systems were interconnected. Water rates varied between systems, as did water quality. Nine of the water systems provided no fire protection connections; others required customers to purchase and maintain fire hydrants.