THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, April 8, 1995                TAG: 9504080013
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A10  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   44 lines

LAKE GASTON THE ROADS TO WATER

North Carolina's got a nerve - but then, it always did. After 12 years of insisting that Virginia Beach's tapping into Lake Gaston would irreparably harm the source environment, Carolina wants a share.

And after 12 years of arguing that Virginia Beach's draw from Gaston is none of Carolina's business, the Beach agrees to share.

With relief in sight, though not in hand, and with the usual 20/20 hindsight, it's hard not to wonder why the outlines of agreement on waterways and roadways mediated by order of the federal court weren't drawn long before now. The savings in legal fees alone might have given South Hampton Roads a head start on a desal plant or whatever water sources Virginia Beach and its neighbors require to supplement the maximum draw ``forever'' from Gaston.

But that's water over a dozen years of political, legal and regulatory dams. The focus now is keeping the mediation on course to a final agreement that local, state and federal officials can approve.

The current draft calls for an interstate compact regulating the maximum amount per day either state may withdraw from the Roanoke River Basin. It calls for a bistate commission to oversee certain restrictions on withdrawals and provisions to protect water quality and animal and plant life (except hydrilla). On the Virginia side, it calls for water-conservation programs, restrictions during droughts and major improvements to roads leading to North Carolina.

Regionalism, conservation, constraints on development and competition for tourism and other economic-development industries are the coming things anyway. The trick will be to enlarge the pie, not merely vie for another's piece.

Opportunities remain for future fights, first over what the final agreement must say, and then over what it means. There are immediate pluses, though: a friendlier forum than courtrooms in which to bring up disputes and, on both sides, some will and clout to work them out. by CNB