VA. LOCALITIES CROSS BORDERS, PUT UP FIGHT IN SEARCH FOR WATER

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

DATE: MONDAY, April 12, 1993                   TAG: 9304120093
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
VA. LOCALITIES CROSS BORDERS, PUT UP FIGHT IN SEARCH FOR WATER
Across Virginia, localities are fighting over water control or looking across their borders for additional resources that might be needed decades later.
A few examples include Henrico County threatening to sue Richmond; Virginia Beach fighting over its rights to tap a North Carolina lake and Newport News eyeing King William County.
The state should begin getting involved, an official says.
"I think the state of Virginia has to tell the local governments they have to work this out for themselves or the state will do it itself," said Tim McGarry, deputy executive director of the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission.
The state has no comprehensive plan for water supply or distribution. So Virginia's counties, cities and towns must fend for themselves and plot their own water futures.
Virginia Beach's efforts to tap Lake Gaston, 80 miles away in North Carolina, have resulted in a legal battle that has stretched over the past several years.
Newport News is focusing its searches on the Mattaponi River and King William County. The city is not involved in any litigation.
Henrico County is threatening to sue Richmond over its rights to build a new water plant that would draw from the James River.
Richmond, which faces the prospect of losing Henrico as its largest water customer, says the city plant will continue to produce enough water to satisfy all of Henrico's needs well into the next century.
The city's current $60 million water plant modernization was planned with Henrico's needs in mind, city officials contend.
"We had a marriage and we expected that to be a long-term relationship, and now they, Henrico, are asking for a divorce," said Jerry Johnson, deputy city manager for operations. "Logical utilities planning does not have you putting in facilities 10 to 20 years before they're needed."
Henrico County Manager Virgil Hazelett says the Richmond region needs a second major water plant in case the city's plant fails. Henrico's plant would have a capacity to purify 35 millions of gallons of water per day and would be upgraded to treat 55 million gallons.
"We're looking at something which, of course, benefits Henrico County," Hazelett said. "It assures us that water will be available for our citizens."
Parochial concerns often enter into the water planning process.
Several years ago, when planners were devising a water plan for the nine localities in the Richmond-area district, Henrico insisted that its proposed water plant be factored into the equations, and Hanover County insisted that its planned 960-acre Crump Creek Reservoir be included.
"In the real world, you can't make a true regional plan," McGarry said.
"You have to make a technical-political plan. We looked at what the locals wanted to do and built a plan around that."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB