Fairfax County supervisors may bring a handful of streams under an expansive protection ordinance that prevents development and pollution. Nearly 3,000 feet of streams in the Dranesville and Lee districts would be designated as “resource protection areas” under a motion the Board of Supervisors will weigh next week. The waterways would be brought under protections already in place for 975 miles of streams in Fairfax County, which stem from the state’s Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, said John Friedman, an engineer with the county’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services.

“In a very real sense, [the ordinance is] a requirement of state law and regulations,” Friedman said. “The underlying purpose of it is to protect the Chesapeake Bay and local waters, as well.”