Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 4, 1991 TAG: 9104040636
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Heavy demand for water has exceeded capacity at the city's Carvins Cove treatment plant in recent years. It means there's not likely to be enough water in transmission lines to keep up the pressure in some areas of town.
But this year, the city manager candidly admits he is scared about what could happen if the summer is dry and water usage is high.
"We are going to be in even more trouble this summer than we have in recent years," Herbert said. "I am hoping this is not the summer we have major fires or problems with transmission lines."
The city has plenty of water in the Carvins Cove reservoir, but the problem is that the demand could exceed the filtration plant's treatment capacity.
"We don't have a shortage of untreated water. The problem is that our plant can treat only so much water in a day," he said.
The Carvins Cove reservoir has a 570-day supply of water, but the demand during the summer is often higher than the filtration plant's capacity to treat 18 million gallons a day.
Residents on Craig Robertson Road, Kefauver Road, Mount Pleasant Boulevard and in other We don't have a shortage of untreated water. The problem is that our plant can treat only so much water in a day Robert Herbert Roanoke city manager areas have been without water for several hours attimes because the pressure was so low their faucets ran dry.
But the problem could be a lot worse and more widespread this year because the Falling Creek filtration plant is being renovated and will not be operating, Herbert said this week.
If the city had several major fires in succession, large areas of the city could be without water, he said.
City officials will ask residents to use conservation measures:
Turn off faucets while brushing teeth.
Limit watering of lawns.
Washing full loads of laundry and dishes.
At this point, officials are considering only voluntary conservation measures and have not discussed mandatory restrictions.
Meanwhile, Water Department officials will try to juggle water between storage tanks and different areas to meet the demand. Herbert said city officials already have started planning for possible shortages.
The Falling Creek plant can provide 2 million gallons per day. That is a small part of the city's rated capacity to supply 23.5 million gallons daily, but 2 million gallons can be critical on dry and hot days when demand sometimes exceeds the city's capacity, according to Kit Kiser, director of utilities and operations.
The demand on some days in the past year was 23.6 million gallons.
The Falling Creek plant "can make or break the difference" in whether some customers have water, Kiser said Wednesday.
Without the Falling Creek supply, pressure could drop even lower in Southeast and other areas with higher elevations where water has to be pumped to reach customers, Kiser said.
The Falling Creek plant is not scheduled to return to operation until August.
The Carvins Cove filtration plant has a rated capacity of 18 million gallons per day, but the demand exceeded that amount on 27 days in the past year and the plant also operated at capacity for 87 days. The Crystal Spring reservoir provides 3.5 million gallons.
by CNB