ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 26, 1996 TAG: 9609260060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER
David Burnley wasn't too alarmed when his tap water turned cloudy right after Hurricane Fran dumped heavy rains in the Roanoke Valley.
Burnley's home on Trevilian Road is one of six served by a private water system that draws from an underground spring. The water sometimes turns brown after a heavy rain, Burnley said, but typically clears up in a couple of days.
After a week of muddy water, however, Burnley and his neighbors realized the spring might never return to normal.
"I consider it lost forever," he said.
The neighborhood has been using water from a temporary, above-ground line provided by Roanoke County officials for the past two weeks.
Burnley and his neighbors know the line is only a short-term solution. The county won't provide them with public water free of charge forever, and the season's first frost will freeze the above-ground line, anyway.
One couple on Trevilian already has begun drilling a well on their property, at a cost expected to approach $7,000. County officials have offered homeowners a better deal. Extending a permanent public waterline to the neighborhood will cost $3,645 per homeowner, according to Gary Robertson, director of utilities. That's a discount rate, down from the regular cost of $5,490, Robertson said. He added that the county has agreed to spread payments out so that Trevilian residents aren't hit with one big bill.
Burnley said he's not sure any of the six residents can afford even that.
The Trevilian residents had hoped the county would extend its line for free along Trevilian between Hollins Road and Quail Place, the only section of the road that does not have public water. But a visit to the Board of Supervisors this week failed to achieve that goal. Under county policy, all extensions are paid for by developers, who include the cost in the price of the homes they sell, or by existing homeowners who stand to benefit from the service.
The six Trevilian landowners now say they are considering a lawsuit against a local developer who they believe caused the disturbance in their water system.
Burnley was careful to say he and his neighbors have no proof that a drainage pond in the Belle Grove subdivision fouled their spring. The pond attracted their attention because a sinkhole formed in its basin Sept. 6, the day Fran passed through the area and also the day mud appeared in their water system. The sinkhole has since been repaired.
But representatives for the Belle Grove Development Corp., developers of the subdivision, note that they are a mile from Trevilian Road and that there are several other construction sites closer to the affected neighborhood, including two commercial buildings and a bridge. There also are a number of other sinkholes in the area, including several on the Hanover Direct business site, that formed more than a year ago, officials there confirmed.
County officials said much of the northeastern part of the county is rife with sinkholes.
"In any development we've had in the Hollins area, sinkholes have developed or already existed," said County Engineer Arnold Covey.
Stan Johnson, a geologist with the Virginia Division of Mineral Resources in Charlottesville, said bad weather may be the only culprit behind the muddy spring. He said heavy rains seeping into the ground can cause underground rivers to rise and wash against the roof of their caverns, scraping off mud and rocks that then show up in local water systems.
For all of those reasons, Belle Grove developers say Trevilian homeowners are randomly pinning blame on them.
"It's the equivalent of a drive-by shooting," said Terry Parsell, a director with the Belle Grove corporation. "All they're trying to do is to get a free hookup from the county by blaming us."
And the spring wasn't trouble-free even before Hurricane Fran or the subdivision arrived. Most of the 25 homes that once used the private system have switched to wells or public water extensions over the years, Burnley said, to avoid the annoyance of occasional mechanical breakdowns. Now the remaining six homes on the system are faced with making a similar choice.
Burnley said he and his neighbors haven't decided whether they will pay for a line extension, but, with cold weather on the way, they'll have to do so soon, he said.
"Time is not on our side," he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Map by staff.by CNB