THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 4, 1995 TAG: 9508030226
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
Voters will still have a bad taste in their mouths when they go to the polls Nov. 7 to decide the fate of a $78 million bond issue to upgrade the city's water treatment system. The quality of the water in the Northwest River will have returned to normal levels by them, but the memory of these past few difficult weeks will linger.
The very thought of another summer without all the good water we need makes going another $78 million in debt a little more palatable than it might be otherwise.
City officials are counting on this extra psychological motivation to help assure the bond issue is approved. But, just in case the possibility of more summers with salty water isn't enough, they want to make sure citizens understand they will have to pay for most of the improvements whether the bond issue is approved or not.
Should the referendum fail, they say, Chesapeake will still have to borrow money to bring the municipal water system up to federal standards and that could cost the taxpayers millions more.
Federal law gives the city no alternative but to lower levels of a variety of chemical and bacterial pollutants. Chlorides and sodium, which make the water barely drinkable at times, are just part of the problem. There are things you can't see, smell or taste that can cause trouble, too.
Still, nobody's going to be happy spending money to meet the new standards if the water remains barely palatable during the hottest months of the summer.
If it makes people feel better to perceive the bond referendum as a direct response to the city's water problems, fine. But the voters aren't really being asked to make a decision about improving the public water supply; they're being asked to validate decisions that have already been made. That and to pay the bills. by CNB