Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 16, 1991                   TAG: 9102160181
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: STEVE KARK CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: PEARISBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

REPORT ON WATER-SYSTEM STUDY GIVEN IN GILES

Project Manager William King and two engineers from the Abingdon offices of Thompson & Litton projected a cost of $2.6 million for the first of three phases of an approach to solving the county's water problems.

Since the most serious water problems exist in communities north of Pearisburg, the first phase would involve laying a pipeline from existing wells in Pearisburg to Glen Lyn, King said. This section also would supply water to Narrows, Rich Creek, Wayside and Ram.

King reported that the wells in Pearisburg would provide an "excellent resource" since they offer a more than adequate yield and have "essentially passed" the Health Department's 1994 testing criteria.

Roughly $1.5 million of the estimated cost would be spent on the pipeline. Additionally, the engineer's estimate includes $100,000 for a 300-gallon-per-minute booster pump station and $175,000 for a 250,000-gallon storage tank.

The second phase of the project involves running a pipeline from Pearisburg to the Pembroke-Hoges Chapel area. A major consideration at this point, King said, would be to determine the need for a surface water treatment facility to take advantage of water from the New River rather than the wells in Pearisburg.

The last phase would involve extending the pipeline from the Pembroke-Hoges Chapel area to Newport and other points in the southernmost sections of the county.

According to the engineers' report, priority would be given to supplying water along a corridor that roughly follows the New River between Glen Lyn and Newport. Supplying the water to communities beyond this corridor could take many more years, they said.

King said the report should be completed by next month and that the county should act on it before October or some government money could be lost.

He reported that the state Department of Health favored the project so far. He also recommended that setting up a regional Public Service Authority would be the best way to regulate the water distribution.

The county has been plagued with water problems for several years. Last year the health department warned several communities in the county to boil their water because of bacteria contamination.

G.W. Peakes, director of the regional office of the health department, endorsed the regional solution to the county's water problems in a letter last November to Randi Lemmon of the New River Planning District Commission.