ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 13, 1996 TAG: 9601130003
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
Southwest Roanoke County residents won't get their first drink of water from Spring Hollow Reservoir for a few more weeks, but the reservoir's treatment plant will begin operating today.
During a ceremonial opening of the $72 million water project, which has been in the works more than 14 years, Board of Supervisors Chairman Bob Johnson will punch a command key on the treatment system's main computer.
Four tanks will start filling with reservoir water, which then will be pumped to Southwest County waterlines.
Treatment plant employees will monitor the system for about two weeks before they open the lines into residents' homes.
Spring Hollow Reservoir, off the Roanoke River near the Montgomery County line, has been filled for more than a year. But no one was able to drink the water until the treatment plant, located downstream on U.S. 460, was up and running.
"This is truly one of the most significant events in this area in the last 50 years," County Administrator Elmer Hodge said Friday.
"One percent of the world's water is available for drinking. With the water supply [limited], we're going to have to provide these type of uses the best we can," Hodge said.
The water first will be supplied to Southwest Roanoke County. But after about a year and a half, the reservoir water will go to areas along Interstate 81, such as Red Lane and Cherokee Hills, Hodge said.
About one-third of the county's water supply will come from the reservoir initially, he said. The county will continue to buy water from Roanoke and Salem and use well water.
The water treatment plant will use an economical process that will be unique in Virginia.
The process, designed by former county Utilities Director Cliff Craig, was approved by the state Health Department in 1993.
Craig died of a heart attack in March 1994. His assistant, Gary Robertson, then took over the project.
"I hope we carried out his wishes," Robertson said.
The biggest difference from a conventional treatment plant is that the reservoir itself is used as a settling basin, Robertson said. In conventional treatment systems, the water is pumped from a reservoir into settling basins.
Hodge praised Craig, Robertson and other staff members Friday for the treatment plant project, which was done completely by county staff. That alone saved the county more than $1 million , Hodge said.
The county also saved money because construction bids for the reservoir were taken during the recession, when construction costs were significantly lower.
"Those savings have allowed us to extend waterlines to Interstate 81," Hodge said.
The project has weathered years of controversy, from debates over who would pay for it to environmental concerns.
The Roanoke Valley Water Supply Committee, formed in late 1981, recommended a reservoir in west Roanoke County over other water-supply options, including a dam on Back Creek and pumping water back from Smith Mountain Lake. Originally, Roanoke, Roanoke County, Salem and Vinton were going to fund it.
The county was the most concerned about a new water system because most of its residents' water came from Roanoke or from public or private wells.
Under a 30-year contract signed in 1979, the county had to buy 2.5 million gallons of water per day from Roanoke, and pay a 25 percent surcharge.
(After a dispute over the contract was settled last year, the city agreed to gradually reduce the amount of water the county must buy and cut the surcharge in half in the final six years of the contract, which was extended to 2015. The county agreed to pay the city $1.25 million in disputed charges.)
In 1986, county voters approved a $16 million bond referendum to pay for what they thought was going to be the county's share of the reservoir.
But as the projected yield of the reservoir was reduced to lessen its impact on the Roanoke River, and its costs soared, the other localities dropped out. The county decided to do the project on its own in the fall of 1988.
The cost of the reservoir, treatment plant and waterlines since has increased to $72 million. The Board of Supervisors approved the sale of revenue bonds in 1991 to cover the additional cost.
The treatment plant has not created any new jobs, Robertson said. Because 80 percent to 90 percent of the county's well system will not be used after the treatment plant is in operation, the employees who were checking those wells each day will be able to work at the treatment plant, Robertson said.
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