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

DATE: THURSDAY, October 26, 1995                   TAG: 9510260041
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Short

VA. BEACH SETS TIMETABLE FOR PIPELINE

The city has set in motion a construction timetable for the proposed Lake Gaston water pipeline that could bring the first water from the lake to southeastern Virginia by April 1998.

City Council gave permission Tuesday to negotiate construction contracts with seven companies that submitted low bids to complete the pipeline.

The contracts, which came in $12 million under budget, will cost at least $91 million. Most of the money already has been collected from water bills, and the city will issue bonds for the rest.

However, some council members expressed caution about opposition to the project from North Carolina and residents around the Roanoke River basin that feeds Lake Gaston.

The city has tried to get the project built for a dozen years, fighting numerous regulatory and court obstacles opponents have raised.

``Carolina keeps insisting they're going to do something,'' said Councilman John A. Baum, a member of the city's Water Task Force.

Earlier this month, Virginia Beach received permission to begin construction when a federal judge in Washington upheld a Commerce Department decision to allow the pipeline and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued the last required permit.

by CNB