DATE: Saturday, October 4, 1997             TAG: 9710040575

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: BUXTON                            LENGTH:   83 lines

WATER ON THE WAY FOR ISLAND NEW WELLS AND OSMOSIS PLANT TO HELP HATTERAS ISLAND TOWNS.

With a drill bit as big as a telephone pole and a reverse-osmosis plant so small it could fit inside a horse trailer, officials are starting the flow of work that will bring county-produced water to the southern half of Hatteras Island by the year 2000.

Most residents of Avon, Buxton, Frisco and Hatteras have had access to a central water system since 1967. But the system, which draws its water from shallow wells in Buxton Woods, hasn't been able to keep up with demand. Water has become a precious commodity.

And more than 1,000 lots have remained unbuildable since the last water hookups for that area were sold seven years ago.

In July, Dare County took over the Cape Hatteras Water Association. The county now provides water to 3,300 customers in those four villages. Officials have promised that by the time a new reverse-osmosis water production plant opens in about two years, there will be more than enough water to supply all 5,649 parcels on the lower end of the island - including those that now rely on private wells.

``There's a real big need for a public water supply in this area,'' Dare County Water Supervisor Bob Oreskovich said Thursday from a well test site just south of Buxton. ``The people down here are going to see a whole new water system - and a whole new quality of crystal clear water.''

Last week, workers installed a mini-reverse-osmosis water production plant at a test well on the west side of N.C. 12 in Buxton. The well draws salty water from an aquifer 280 feet underground. The little plant, similar to ones the military used for Desert Storm troops, makes about 11 gallons of drinkable water per minute.

Reverse-osmosis plants purify underground water drawn from deep wells by removing 99 percent of the salt, minerals and other contaminants.

Residents of Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Southern Shores, Duck, Colington Island, Rodanthe, Waves and Salvo already have access to centrally produced R-O water.

But people on the southern half of Hatteras have had to rely on water drawn from shallow wells.

Tests being done this week convinced Oreskovich that there's enough water deep under Buxton to more than meet the area's present and future water production needs.

``We've found three wells already with tremendous yields,'' he said. ``There's about 20 times better production capacity from these wells than from the ones we're working in Kill Devil Hills. I've never seen a producer like these.''

The Cape Hatteras Water Association had been looking for additional sources of water since 1984. But a lengthy legal battle determined that workers couldn't drill any new wells in the state-protected Buxton Woods. So last year, managers asked their customers whether they wanted to go under Dare County's umbrella in hopes of getting an R-O plant - and 85 percent agreed.

Construction on the new plant should begin in about a year. The facility will be next to the current Cape Hatteras water tank and will produce 1 million gallons a day. Once the new R-O plant is running, Oreskovich said, water will be mixed between the existing system operating off shallow wells and the new plant.

``Customers will get a blend of the two types of water,'' he said. ``That's why we're putting both plants together.''

Building the new plant - and renovating the old one, which makes about 2 million gallons of water a day - will cost $7.4 million, Dare County Finance Director Dave Clawson said Friday. Repairs to the distribution system will cost another $3.2 million. Hookup fees and rates for Hatteras' four southern villages will pay for the construction and renovations.

Avon, Buxton, Frisco and Hatteras village residents pay $63 for 9,000 gallons of water. The rest of Dare County's customers pay $51 for the same amount. But beginning next summer, Clawson said, water rates probably will rise even more for residents of the southern end of Hatteras Island.

Having plenty of water, however, might be worth the higher rates, said Hatteras Realty spokesman Dick Davis.

``I expect that new R-O system will enhance property values for everyone - and will make the market much better for sales,'' he said. ``For the first time ever, we won't be in a constant state of water emergency.

``Everyone in Avon, Buxton, Frisco and Hatteras worries each July that our water usage is going to exceed the availability of our current production. Soon, we won't have those worries. And the quality of water should be very good, too.

``We feel very fortunate that the county is going to provide adequate water for the southern half of our island,'' Davis said. ``We're really looking forward to it. It's been a long time coming.''

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