THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 8, 1995 TAG: 9508080008
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Clarksville Del. Frank Ruff (Another View, July 15) prefers that Virginia Beach abandon the Lake Gaston project and instead, piece together a water system using Norfolk ``surplus,'' brackish-groundwater desalting and, presumably, a large dose of hope. As a fellow legislator, I understand the need to advocate for one's constituency. As someone who has lived with this issue for years, however, I must disagree with his conclusions.
In 11 of the past 20 years, Norfolk's ``surplus'' has been limited and therefore should not be considered the basis for a safe, reliable and guaranteed supply. My city and other jurisdictions in Southeastern Virginia have long acknowledged that we would someday need additional water to augment Lake Gaston. Norfolk's surplus would certainly be a strong candidate.
Delegate Ruff grossly exaggerates the contribution of brackish-groundwater desalting to solving the regional water shortage. Small facilities have been or are being implemented by Dare County (3 million gallons per day), Chesapeake (3 mgd) and Suffolk (7 mgd). No one claims that Virginia Beach could not develop up to a 5 mgd brackish-groundwater facility. The city's long-term water demand, however, will average 55 mgd with a summertime peak of 83 mgd.
Delegate Ruff would also have us believe that the Roanoke River Basin's resources are ``already limited'' and that residents there are suffering under ``severe restrictions'' that will be made worse by our proposed withdrawal of 60 mgd from Lake Gaston.
The Kerr/Gaston/Roanoke Rapids reservoir system is the largest for many states around. In a typical year, 5 billion (that's billion) gallons of water per day flow past Clarksville. In a record-breaking drought, it is 2 billion. Our withdrawal is downstream of Clarksville and every other Virginia basin community which has already used, treated and discharged the water. Therefore, Delegate Ruff would have to rewrite the laws of nature to find a negative upstream environmental impact from this project.
In the past dozen years, this project has undergone nine federal-agency or judicial reviews including three environmental assessments, two environmental-impact statements, a coastal-zone study, as well as three U.S. district or appellate court rulings. Each found downstream impacts to be insignificant and upstream impacts to be nonexistent.
Delegate Ruff would have us believe that his constituents are victims of Virginia Beach greed. If we were greedy, we would not have supported funding for the widening of Route 58. If we were greedy, we would not have backed funding to help erase disparity between suburban and southside school districts. If we were truly greedy, we would ask for an end to the interbasin transfer of tax revenue which is decidedly in the favor of southside.
Virginia Beach has now received a permit from FERC that will allow it to resume construction of the pipeline. The hope is that it will be completed in 1998 so that we may lift water restrictions and be safe from the effects of the next major drought. For political reasons alone, opponents on both sides of the state line will continue to seek ways to derail our project. We ask ``leaders'' in southside to begin working with us, not against us, for the betterment of the entire commonwealth of Virginia.
Sen. CLARENCE HOLLAND
7th District
Virginia Beach, July 20, 1995 by CNB