Waynesboro Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Waynesboro, Virginia — an independent Virginia city at the southern entrance of Rockfish Gap at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains at the southern end of the Shenandoah Valley, adjacent to Staunton and Augusta County, gateway to the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive at Rockfish Gap — receives its municipal water from the Waynesboro Water Utility, which draws from the South River watershed impoundment in the Augusta County-Waynesboro corridor. The South River drains the Blue Ridge and Valley and Ridge of the upper Shenandoah Valley.

The moderately hard 149 mg/L hardness and TDS of 329.2 mg/L reflect the South River watershed's mixed Blue Ridge-Valley geology. The South River (a major South Fork Shenandoah River tributary) drains both the Blue Ridge Province — the Grenville-age Precambrian gneiss and the Catoctin Formation (Proterozoic metabasalt of the Blue Ridge front, contributing low-carbonate runoff) — and the Valley and Ridge Province — the Ordovician Edinburg Formation (dolomitic limestone) and Martinsburg Shale of the Shenandoah Valley carbonate plain. The Valley and Ridge carbonate contribution produces moderately hard finished water, harder than purely Blue Ridge crystalline supplies (Christiansburg 92.5 mg/L) and reflective of the Shenandoah Valley carbonate belt's limestone and dolomite leaching.

At 149 mg/L, Waynesboro's water is moderately hard — typical for a Shenandoah Valley Blue Ridge community. Scale builds in kettles and appliances over months, dishwashers benefit from rinse aid, and faucet aerators need periodic cleaning. Quarterly descaling of heating appliances is the standard schedule. The PFAS level of 7.8 ppt warrants a certified drinking water filter — the South River has a significant DuPont / Invista (now Koch) industrial legacy: the DuPont Waynesboro plant discharged mercury contamination (a major Superfund cleanup) and other industrial compounds into the South River for decades, with the broader PFAS industrial legacy from synthetic fiber manufacturing contributing to the Waynesboro supply's PFAS background.