THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 13, 1995 TAG: 9508130259
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
The troubles with Gaston pipeline alternatives
A letter writer recently suggested (``A different route for the pipeline, plus desalination,'' Beacon, July 21) two alternatives to the projected Lake Gaston pipeline:
(1) ``Run the pipeline through North Carolina and connect it to Virginia Beach from the south.''
(2) Copy the Israelis' system of running seawater through greenhouses and collect the evaporated pure condensate. ``This has proven to be a cost-effective way to desalinate water in Israel for the past few decades,'' he writes.
My reaction as a layman, landscape architect, horticulture consultant and interested citizen to the first suggestion: Virginia Beach has been suffering for quite a few years from an inadequate supply of water. So I ask:
(1) How long would it take to engineer such a system?
(2) Would environmental impact statements that involve crossing wetlands of northeast North Carolina be approved?
(3) How long would such a review and approval require?
(4) What would the costs be to Virginia Beach for these engineering and legal requirements?
(5) Since Virginia Beach does not have water treatment facilities, what would it cost to design and build a treatment facility?
(6) Where would raw water and treated water appropriately be stored?
(7) What would the environmental impact of this storage be?
(8) Very important: What would a newly designed pipeline through North Carolina cost Virginia Beach taxpayers?
I suspect public-utility people could think of other relevant questions.
Relative to the Israeli greenhouse system:
(1) How many acres of greenhouse space are required to produce 60 million gallons per day of pure water under Israeli conditions of temperature and days of sunny weather per year? How many acres would be required in Virginia Beach?
(2) Could environmental impact statements be approved and how long would that take? What happens to the brine and salt produced and what about their environmental impact?
(3) How much storage space would be needed for treated water?
(4) How much lag time would be involved in the design and construction of the entire system?
(5) What would the system cost?
Is this Israeli system really a good one for Virginia Beach, considering all these (plus other) questions? Maybe, but I doubt it.
Bartow H. Bridges Jr.
Longleaf Road
Maybe we should have elected Oliver North to the U.S. Senate after all. He could have solved Virginia Beach's water problem by selling arms to Jesse Helms in exchange for an end to North Carolina's objection to the Lake Gaston Pipeline.
Debbie L. Close
Virginia Beach
Show him why city must change Oceanfront roads
I understand that Virginia Beach is about to spend millions to carry out the redesign and beautification of the area that surrounds the intersection of 41st Street with Pacific and Atlantic avenues in Virginia Beach. The redesign eliminates the merging of northbound traffic on Pacific and Atlantic in favor of a right-angle intersection with a stop-light. Traffic going south on Atlantic and wanting to continue south on Atlantic will have to make a left-hand turn at the new stoplight.
The new design has the effect of making Pacific south of the new light and Atlantic north of the new light a ``through'' street. Atlantic south of the new light will become an intersecting street.
As a resident who frequents the area in question, I favor the present traffic pattern over the proposed change. I am not aware that the present traffic pattern is dangerous, nor am I aware that it is a bottleneck. I say, ``If it ain't broke, don't fix it.'' It it's broken, could someone show us the statistics?
C.J. Carpenter
North Bay Shore Drive by CNB