THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, June 21, 1996                 TAG: 9606210005
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A14  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                            LENGTH:   34 lines

BEACH HAS NO RIGHT TO GASTON WATER

What right does Virginia Beach have to take the self-righteous position that it can take (steal) 60 million gallons per day of Lake Gaston's water?

Granted, the pipeline to the lake will be entirely in Virginia; however, the majority of Lake Gaston is in North Carolina. You can't take water out of one side of a bathtub without affecting the other side.

Virginia Beach has created its water problem through rapid, uncontrolled growth. Per-capita income in the counties around Lake Gaston is low compared with the per-capita income of Virginia Beach residents. Why should those counties with Lake Gaston as their primary resource for economic development be the victims of Virginia Beach's political mismanagement?

Would Virginia Beach allow a city in North Carolina to take sand off its beach? I don't think so. Why should the counties around Lake Gaston allow their precious resource (water) to be used by Virginia Beach residents to wash their luxury cars and fill their swimming pools?

Any water taken from Lake Gaston, especially 60 million gallons per day, has to have a potential negative effect on the ecology of the lake as well as the upstream and downstream tributaries of the lake.

Virginia Beach couldn't care less about that as long as it gets what is needed to satisfy its needs. Virginia Beach should be forced to look at other options and select one that does not affect other communities, even if that option is more expensive.

Virginia Beach should pay the price for its rapid growth, not the struggling counties around Lake Gaston.

TERRY W. MAXWELL

Norfolk, June 14, 1996 by CNB