THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 16, 1996 TAG: 9606160048
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 149 lines
A new study concludes Norfolk's water supply could be 18 million gallons per day larger than previously thought - big enough, according to North Carolina's math, to make the Lake Gaston pipeline unnecessary.
Two million gallons is available immediately, according to the Norfolk study, which took five years to complete.
It's not clear whether the extra water will affect restrictions that have kept Virginia Beach lawns brown and cars dirty for four years, or how it might affect the region's pursuit of the $150 million Lake Gaston pipeline project.
North Carolina and other pipeline opponents have long contended that South Hampton Roads already has enough water to meet current and coming needs.
In legal documents it filed Friday before learning of the study's existence, North Carolina repeated its argument that South Hampton Roads needs only about another 16 million gallons of water a day through the year 2030, not the 60 million gallons promised by the pipeline.
Alan S. Hirsch, the North Carolina special deputy attorney general who has headed the state's anti-Gaston efforts, said Saturday that North Carolina is ``withholding comment until it sees the report.''
Though only a handful of people in both cities have seen the study, it has already spurred regional conflict. Virginia Beach and Norfolk have been locked in a political battle for the past two weeks over whether Norfolk should release its report.
At least one Beach City Council member said he voted last week to defer the review of a proposed regional light rail system, long sought by Norfolk, because he was upset at Norfolk for promising to release the study to The Virginian-Pilot.
The Pilot had requested the report under the Freedom of Information Act, and Norfolk has said it would provide its report this week. Saturday, The Pilot obtained a copy of a Norfolk ``position statement'' that summarizes the study's findings and presents Norfolk's official interpretation of them.
Beach officials questioned Norfolk's motives for promising to release the study now, just days after the final briefs were filed Friday in a legal appeal that could decide the fate of the pipeline. They said Norfolk should have given them more time to review the potentially damaging report.
``We don't accept the assumptions of the report, and we have real concerns that the information will be misinterpreted,'' Beach City Manager James K. Spore said Saturday.
Spore said he has had the report for about two weeks and he and his staff have been questioning Norfolk officials about it. He said he had hoped it would not be made public until after all of Virginia Beach's concerns had been addressed.
The Norfolk study did not find any new water; it just came to different conclusions than several earlier studies about how much could safely be used, according to the Norfolk statement and officials in Virginia Beach and Norfolk.
The true quantity of water available in the Norfolk system is almost impossible to calculate, and best-guess estimates of previous studies have varied dramatically.
North Carolina and other pipeline opponents have sided with the more liberal studies. Virginia Beach has always used the most conservative numbers to support its need to build the pipeline.
The figures in the newest study, conducted by a noted national firm, Gannett Fleming Inc., are closer to North Carolina's projections.
The available water levels are higher than some earlier studies because of improvements Norfolk has made to its water system following a severe drought in 1981, and because it assumes that the Blackwater and Nottoway rivers can be drastically drawn down.
The study found that Norfolk's minimum water supply in times of drought, technically known as its ``safe yield,'' could be as high as 97 million gallons of water a day - 18 million gallons a day more than Norfolk assumed in its 1993 water contract with Virginia Beach.
The study's conclusions may allow Norfolk to sell 2 million gallons of water a day more cheaply to Virginia Beach. For the past three years, Virginia Beach has been paying a penalty for using more than 30 million gallons a day on average - totaling about $1.5 million a year. If Norfolk now raises that base to 32 million gallons a day, Virginia Beach's penalty will be cut roughly in half. The cities would have to modify the contract to make such a change.
Guy said the extra water probably won't allow the Beach to lift the restrictions. It gives the city a cushion every day, he said, but does not affect the amount Norfolk can push through its system on any given day.
``Even if I could give Virginia Beach more water on the average, I can't increase the peak,'' Guy said.
``So I'm not sure more water on the average day does them much good except to sound like they can relieve the restrictions, and they can't.''
By figuring out a better way to mix water drawn from reservoirs and underground aquifers, Norfolk will eventually be able to produce another 16 million gallons of water per day, according to the study. The position statement emphasizes that the extra well water ``should not be used until and unless these problems are overcome, except in emergency situations.''
The Beach is concerned with Norfolk's assumption that the two rivers will yield significantly more water, council member John A. Baum said. ``Norfolk plans on sucking the Blackwater and Nottoway Rivers dry,'' Baum said, something it would not have to do if the pipeline were built.
Norfolk's director of public utilities, Louis Guy, said the city has drawn from those rivers for 50 years, and can take as much from them as it needs. No other downstream communities depend on the rivers for drinking water, Guy said.
Baum said he is also troubled by the timing of the report's release. He said he does not understand why Norfolk waited until two weeks ago to tell Virginia Beach about a study that has been under way for half a decade.
``I can't speculate any good reason that they would do this, especially at this time,'' Baum said Saturday.
``The timing makes us really wonder what their purpose is,'' he said. ``I keep wondering if Norfolk's financial problems are severe enough that they're in a lot better position if we're forced to buy water from them and not get the Lake Gaston water or get it reduced.''
Baum noted that Virginia Beach is often accused of not acting in the regional interest. Baum said he doesn't see how Norfolk's actions could be in the best interest of the Beach or Chesapeake, which also is counting on Gaston water.
``If you're going to have somebody holding you hostage financially, what kind of regionalism is that,'' he asked.
Baum said he decided to vote to postpone a decision on light rail last week to let Norfolk officials know he didn't appreciate their plans to release the water report.
The Norfolk City Council voted unanimously last week to support further study of a light rail line that would connect downtown Norfolk with the Oceanfront. The same day, the Beach Council voted unanimously to defer its decision for a month, citing concerns that Norfolk Southern Corp., the railroad giant that owns most of the tracks the line would use, had not been properly informed of the plans.
Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said last week that her decision to vote for a deferral on light rail was not affected by the Gaston dispute. Reached at home Saturday, Oberndorf said she had not yet read the study, but did not think Virginia Beach should risk the health of its citizens by relying on hopes that more water could be found.
``You cannot take all the groundwater and you cannot use all the wells until you run down the rivers. There is a point of responsibility and good citizenship.
``I really don't think this will change anything that we have said all along about the need for the water in this region, and especially for Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.''
Norfolk officials said they are not acting ``unregionally,'' merely that their contract with Virginia Beach requires that they keep an accurate accounting of their water supply, and that the law requires that they release it to The Pilot.
Norfolk Mayor Paul D. Fraim said in a prepared statement: ``The city of Norfolk's position remains unchanged: Lake Gaston is an absolute necessity for this region. This city is still committed to moving this project forward. In fact, we are investing Norfolk taxpayer money at this very moment, preparing to receive, treat and deliver Gaston water to Virginia Beach.''
Norfolk and Virginia Beach are each investing $100 million to improve and expand a water treatment plant in Norfolk that would treat the Lake Gaston water.
The 76-mile Lake Gaston pipeline would bring water from the North Carolina border to Norfolk's water system. Construction resumed early this year after a four-year, court-ordered hiatus. About 20 miles have been built.
Arguments in the appeal of a federal permit to build the pipeline are set for Sept. 9 in Washington.
KEYWORDS: LAKE GASTON PIPELINE WATER SUPPLY PLAN STUDY
REPORT by CNB