THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 20, 1996 TAG: 9608200347
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: 73 lines
Albemarle Water Resources Task Force members Monday recommended that coastal counties facing water shortages stop digging more and deeper wells and join Dare County in producing drinking water by a more costly process: reverse osmosis.
At their regular meetings this week, concerned county commissioners will be asked by the task force to ask Albemarle legislators to create a new water authority that would unify a reverse osmosis system for northeastern counties.
Reverse osmosis is a process of pressure filtration that can produce 75 gallons of pure, drinkable water from 100 gallons of salty or polluted water.
``It's the only way to go in the future,'' said state Rep. William C. ``Bill'' Owens Jr., D-Pasquotank, the task force chairman. Owens called the Elizabeth City meeting of water-worried county managers and area planners.
After hearing Robert W. Oreskovich, Dare County Water Director, describe the increasing efficiency and decreasing costs of reverse osmosis, the 20 members of the water task force decided to abandon earlier options.
The task force has previously examined two other supplies of water:
Lake Gaston, now the proposed western terminus of an 85-mile pipeline to carry potable water to Virginia Beach. Lake Gaston is in North Carolina, and the aqueduct has caused a running dispute between North Carolina and the Virginia resort city.
The 40-million-gallon daily discharge of fresh water from Texas-Gulf phosphate mining operations at Aurora, N.C. The waste water has been pumped into the Pamlico River. At one time Currituck County floated an idea to pipe the water to Currituck and sell what wasn't needed to Dare County.
Enthusiasm for reverse osmosis as a ``reliable source'' for new water quickly increased when Oreskovich described Dare County's increased efforts to cope with a future water shortage.
``We're able to sell 1,000 gallons of our water for $1.35,'' Oreskovich told the task force.
Many Albemarle counties and communities charge far more for a comparable amount of water.
``What we need now is more new water, not more of the same water pumped out of the same aquifer,'' said Randy Keaton, Pasquotank county manager, who is facing an increasing problem with diminishing supplies.
Keaton told the task force that his county was now pumping 2.4 million gallons from 32 wells.
``And when we put down more wells, the quality gets worse,'' he said.
Keaton cautioned that reverse osmosis would impose a huge new debt load on county water systems. ``We have to build a lot of new pipelines and pumping facilities,'' he said.
Owens and several other task force members pointed out finding and producing more drinking water for the northeast will become more costly in any event.
``By the nature of reverse osmosis, we're actually improving the quality of water we pipe to our citizens,'' said Oreskovich.
The Dare County water director explained that reverse osmosis removes impurities, while conventional water treatment adds chemicals to make the water safe for drinking.
Owens and Pasquotank County Commissioner Zack Robertson urged members of the task force to return to their counties and lobby for quick action by their legislators to set up a new northeastern water authority for the Albemarle.
Owens promised that he would ask state Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare, to use his influence as President pro tem of the Senate to have the legislation ready for the General Assembly that will convene early next year.
The meeting in the Pasquotank County Courthouse on Monday came almost one year to the day after the task force awarded a $50,000 contract to a Raleigh engineering firm to produce a water survey for the Albemarle.
Eric T. Weatherly, an engineer with Hobbs, Upchurch Associates, the Raleigh firm that was hired, came to the meeting with fat copies of a draft report that includes much discussion of reverse osmosis.
The meeting adjourned before Weatherly was given a chance to discuss the study. by CNB