THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 17, 1994 TAG: 9407150205
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
What about the more obvious alternative than desalinization - rainfall? Virginia Beach gets 45 inches, or almost four feet of it, a year. Conservative calculations for a community watershed/reservoir system suggest that Virginia Beach could rely on itself for a change (What a concept!) and deliver 2 billion cubic feet of fresh water per year to its citizens. That is about 90 gallons per capita per day, more than is now used from all sources. Other communities do this, so it's not exactly a radical idea.
If the city government fails to pursue water independence for its citizens, then the citizens can do it for themselves. A 2,000-square-foot house, equipped simply with roof gutters and cisterns, could collect 154 gallons per day on average. Families in many parts of the country and world do this routinely and successfully. Frankly, I'm amazed domestic cisterns aren't all the rage now in this area, since planning at the local-government level for water has been so incompetent.
David R. Goodridge
Chesapeake THE WATER SOLUTION THAT COMES FROM THE SUN
I have lived in Virginia Beach for only two years but the one thing that seems to be a constant is the water problem. I don't understand this problem. It appears to me there exists a simple, no-cost solution. Give a franchise to an engineering company that will build a solar distillation plant. It would cost the taxpayers and city nothing and might even have a side benefit: The sand, salt and slush that remained after distillation could be placed on Sandbridge beaches.
Why are we paying exorbitant sums to lawyers, bureaucrats and other unworthies when for a cost of nearly zero we can get an unlimited supply of water now?
James R. Campbell
Virginia Beach PAST TIME TO SAY NO TO THE BUILDING LOBBY
Ten years ago during my first term as president of the Council of Civic Organizations, I suggested a moratorium on building new homes until the city got a handle on its water problem. This proposal was greeted with about as much enthusiasm as Senator Robb at a Wilder birthday party.
Since that time, rezoning and building in Virginia Beach have not slowed down one iota, and actually appear to have increased. Can we expect the citizens of Virginia Beach to pay ever-increasing water bills to subsidize more home con-struction?
How much of this water is being guzzled by the tourists at the hotels and motels in the city? Can the citizens afford to subsidize these facili-ties?
In Hong Kong it is much easier to get a cola or beer than a glass of water, and many of the hotels restrict bath water to one hour in the evening. Maybe we should exercise this type of discipline, instead of having unlimited water usage.
Even though we try to ration it, I have noticed that my household water bill for a one-month period now exceeds by three times the amount that I paid for a three-month period in the 1950s.
Now that Norfolk has fined Virginia Beach $1.4 million for excessive water consumption due to increased home construction, isn't it about time we elected a council with enough guts to say no to the ever-powerful building lobby?
How much of an increased water bill can the citizens absorb before the city becomes too expensive a place to live?
Walter Vargo
Sadler Court MEMO: Editor's note: According to the Public Utilities Department,
single-family and multifamily residential units account for
approximately 82 percent of water de-mand on the city. Commercial users
account for 18 percent, of which hotels and motels citywide account for
4 percent.
KEYWORDS: WATER VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL
by CNB