ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 24, 1996 TAG: 9602260021
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PEARISBURG
SOURCE: CLAYTON BRADDOCK STAFF WRITER
It's taken some 15 months, but leaders of Virginia's largest water project finally seem to have reached an agreement and the county's Public Service Authority will soon take charge of much of Giles County's water.
"We have all our permits," said Tim Brown, executive director of the PSA. "It's literally the politics we've needed to work through with the user agreements."
The PSA's customers will include residents from the county and five towns along the U.S. 460 corridor: Glen Lyn, Rich Creek, Narrows, Pearisburg and Pembroke.
The county's mountainous terrain means that water in other, harder-to-reach communities, will continue to come - at least for the immediate future - from private sources.
"We're doing something that I hear hasn't been accomplished anywhere in Virginia in terms of the number of jurisdictions," Brown said.
Travis Jackson, the Wytheville-based assistant director of the federal Rural Economic and Community Development Administration, agreed.
"The sheer magnitude of this project makes it the largest ever in Virginia and perhaps one of the most difficult anywhere in the nation," he said.
Leaders of the Public Service Authority, the county and the five towns took the final steps toward making the project a reality this week. All that's left is a final vote from the Board of Supervisors, which should come in the next two weeks.
Final negotiations had been on the table for months as each local government went over legal rewrites and changes.
But in the last two weeks, the Public Service Authority approved a series of water purchase agreements with each of five towns and the county, and the towns ratified the agreements in votes before their councils.
After the supervisors sign on, there will be a waiting period while the Community Development Administration, formerly the Farmer's Home Administration, makes sure everything is in order. Then the county will be allowed to put the project - which totals $7.13 million counting planning, construction, inspection and more - out to bid.
The agreement opens the door for the PSA to sell water in bulk to the towns and county. It also means the localities will pay an annual water bill to the PSA for the next 40 years. That rate is now set at $2.25 per thousand gallons. The localities, in turn, will bill their customers to recoup the costs.
Much of the funding for the project has come from the community development administration, which provided both a grant and a loan. Because the project could have such an impact on industrial growth, it was eligible for other grants. The finances break down like this:
A $600,000 grant from the Community Development Administration.
A $5.3 million loan from the administration, at 4.5 percent over 40 years.
A $500,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission
A $700,000 grant from the Economic Development Administration.
By 1998, when the wells, pipes and water plant near Bluff City are hooked up and complete, the PSA will serve about 4,200 connections and a total of about 10,000 users, Brown said.
The county has a population of about 16,000.
"We started on our own 10-yard line in 1989," said Brown, a football fan. "Today, seven years later, we are inside our opponent's 20-yard line. That's inside the red zone with only a few tough yards ahead."
Gary Eaton, chairman of the PSA and mayor of Rich Creek, said the water project is the only way to sustain infrastructure in the county. It also means jobs for young people, he said.
Rich Creek has two industries that rely heavily on water. Both pay high fire insurance bills because water in case of fires is harder to come by.
"Water is our future," agreed Jay Williams, a longtime member of the Board of Supervisors and a supporter of the project.
In the past, the towns along the corridor have had problems with their independent systems. Some haven't always had the back-up wells recommended by the state health department. Others lose water through leaky, antiquated pipes.
Brown expects construction of the water plant and some 18 miles of distribution line to begin in mid to late summer.
LENGTH: Medium: 82 linesby CNB