Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 17, 1991 TAG: 9104170477
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Answer: They aren't. The city of Roanoke has plenty of water. But that's not to say everything is OK.
The problem is treating and transmitting enough water fast enough to meet steadily rising demand - including, it is worth hoping, future demand created by economic growth.
What Roanoke City Council should have approved last year, but accepted only in part, this year should not be deferred again: commitment to a plan to raise rates sufficiently to meet the debt-retirement costs of improvements to the city's water system.
There's nothing exotic about the proposed improvements, estimated to cost $28 million:
Lines would be added for moving treated water from the Carvins Cove reservoir, Roanoke's main water source, to areas throughout the city.
Treatment facilities would be expanded, to increase the capacity of the Carvins Cove plant from 18 million to 28 million gallons per day and to avoid cutting corners in ensuring the quality of the water.
Pump stations would be upgraded to handle increased flow.
The improvements are designed to handle demand for city water well into the next century. But the need for the improvements won't arise in the indefinite future. It exists right now.
In 1990, the Carvins Cove plant operated at or above rated capacity on 114 days, or nearly one-third of the time. Only a few years ago, in the mid-'80s, it operated at capacity only two or three days a year.
Roughly half the money requested by the city administration is for improvements that come directly under state and federal mandates. The federal Safe Drinking Water Act, for example, is expected to require the city to hold water in retention pools longer than now is possible if customer demand is to be met.
Indirectly, the improvements as a whole are related to such regulations. The state, for instance, requires localities to start planning water-system expansion when usage exceeds 80 percent of rated capacity for three months in a row. There was not a single three-month period in 1990 when usage did On a system operating at the edge of capacity, a sudden surge in demand - say, two or three big fires in a row during a summer dry spell - could wreak havoc. not exceed 80 percent of capacity.
In any case, you don't need state and federal regulations to see the obvious. Already, parts of the city sometimes suffer low-pressure problems. (The higher your elevation and the farther you are from Carvins Creek, the more likely you have such problems.)
Sure, there's plenty of water around. But what matters is the amount of available, clean water in relation to customer demand.
Inadequate water supply is more than an inconvenience, more than a deterrent to economic development in Roanoke. It is also, says City Manager Robert Herbert, a public-safety issue: On a system operating at the edge of capacity, a sudden surge in demand - say, two or three big fires in a row during a dry spell - could wreak havoc.
So far, there has been no havoc, no crisis. But that the system is under strain is unquestionable; that the strain will intensify is almost certain. The best way to deal with a crisis is to prevent it; the only time to do that is before it happens.
The means of getting water to residents and businesses in Roanoke is paid for not with tax dollars, but with user fees. The water system is supposed to pay for itself. And its costs include expansion and upgrading, as needed. They are needed now.
by CNB