THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 11, 1997 TAG: 9701110014
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 42 lines
Virginia Beach wants the Lake Gaston pipeline so badly that it is willing to stoop to the level of North Carolina to fight for it.
For 13 years North Carolina has battled Virginia's largest city to keep a 76-mile-long pipeline from drawing water from Lake Gaston, which straddles the Virginia-North Carolina border. North Carolinians argue - without merit - that by taking water from the lake, Virginia Beach will damage the quality of the water flowing downstream into North Carolina.
Lawsuits have hamstrung the project and left Virginia Beach with an uncertain future. If Lake Gaston is derailed, the city will lose the millions of dollars it has spent on the project and its economic future will be stunted until an independent source of water is found.
That scenario is unimaginable and unacceptable to Virginia Beach officials. As it should be. But strong feelings can sometimes prompt ill-considered reactions.
This week we got a glimpse of the Beach fighting for water in a way it has rightly condemned in others. The Virginia city has interjected itself into a routine request by Charlotte, N.C., to draw an additional 184 million gallons of water a day from Mountain Island Lake. That lake lies completely within North Carolina's borders, but the Catawba River leaves the lake and runs through South Carolina.
Virginia Beach officials contend that if North Carolina has veto power over Virginia's water plans, South Carolina should have veto power over North Carolina's. Sensibly enough, South Carolina doesn't seem to care.
An attorney for Virginia Beach has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which grants permits for water withdrawals, to postpone a decision on the Charlotte request until the Gaston matter is resolved.
Now North Carolina is getting a bitter taste of what Virginia has been enduring for years. But this is really just the latest drip in the Chinese water torture this region has endured for far too long. If North Carolina and Virginia could agree to get the water flowing, both would benefit. And the torture would cease.