DATE: Thursday, September 25, 1997          TAG: 9709250375

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY LANE DeGREGORY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: MANTEO                            LENGTH:   35 lines

STATE TO TEST WATER SAMPLES UNTIL DARE HIRES SOMEONE

Dare County began advertising for a new water monitor this week and will rely on state sampling in the meantime, a health official said Wednesday.

The Outer Banks' first full-time water monitor, Jeff Wuilliez, was reported to have resigned Sept. 17, but he said Wednesday he had written a letter withdrawing the resignation and had retained a lawyer.

Health Director Anne Thomas would only say that Wuilliez was no longer employed by Dare County.

Although officials will not be able to collect samples from ocean and sound sites until a new water tester comes on board, Thomas said Wednesday that the year-old program will continue.

``We'll have a little gap in data. And we're concerned about that. But we just don't have anyone to do the job,'' she said.

``In the meantime, the state's shellfish sanitation department will continue its water-testing efforts at 42 sites - 22 in the ocean and 20 in the sound. A lot of those sites are near ones Jeff was monitoring,'' Thomas said. ``And they'll be out there two times a month collecting samples.''

The only area in Dare County under a local water quality advisory is Wanchese Harbor, where signs are posted suggesting people not swim. State shellfish officers don't normally monitor that site. But until a new county water tester comes aboard, Thomas said, North Carolina will keep sampling there.

A boat ramp on Kitty Hawk Bay, in Kill Devil Hills, also has state signs telling people the nearby waters are not recommended for swimming.

``We're trying to contract an outside firm to see about finishing an annual report summarizing the data Jeff collected over the last year,'' Thomas said. KEYWORDS: WATER POLLUTION

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