DATE: Sunday, October 5, 1997               TAG: 9710050106

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER   

DATELINE: MANTEO                            LENGTH:   94 lines

SALE OF DARE WATER NEARS REALITYTHE COUNTY WILL DECIDE MONDAY WHETHER TO SELL AN EMERGENCY SUPPLY TO CURRITUCK OUTER BANKS

The emergency sale of Dare County water for Currituck Outer Banks developments may finally become possible Monday, months after a contract between a private utility and the county was approved by the board of commissioners.

On July 7, the county agreed to sell Carolina Water Service Inc. of North Carolina water if an emergency caused a shortage. Carolina Water, in turn, would do the same for Dare County. The county manager would decide what constituted an emergency.

The arrangement has been held at bay while Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills considered its merits. Under terms of a 1996 tri-party water agreement, the towns also had to approve the contract before the county could move ahead.

Now that both towns have signed off on the deal, Dare commissioners Monday will make the final decision when they vote on an addendum to the tri-party agreement. The addendum would, in part, require a hydrological study within a year, mandate water sales to be at retail rates and forbid selling water if restrictions are in place or if 100 percent production cannot be maintained.

But Republican Commissioner Cheryl Byrd said she is concerned that the arrangement could deplete the county's water supply and ultimately cost Dare more to take care of its own residents. She said she will object to the revision and plans to introduce a motion to reconsider the matter.

``The problem is that they don't have any guarantee to anyone except Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head that they will continue to provide them with water,'' Byrd said Friday. ``I don't think people have been aware of how loose this system is.''

Byrd said Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills are assured access to about two-thirds of the northern county water system's capacity, leaving Manteo, Southern Shores, Duck, Colington and Kitty Hawk the remaining supply. The commissioner also said it is possible that the systems's aquifer could be depleted enough to cause excess salinity, which would lead to higher treatment costs.

``I think none of us would be nearly so scared and concerned if we knew if there was an indefinite amount of water to draw from,'' Byrd said. ``We're all going to be paying for more expensive water so Corolla can have water.''

But Vice Chairman Stan White, a Democrat who recently replaced former Chairman Bobby Owens on the board, said he had never heard anyone mention such possibilities.

``I personally find it hard to believe that we would cut off water to our population and sell it to someone else,'' he said Friday.

Although he said he will listen to any new information about the plan, he said he plans to vote to approve the addendum ``with the knowledge I have now.''

White said he favors a regional approach to water and sees the agreement as a neighborly proposition that protects tourism and citizens who live and work on the Currituck and Dare barrier islands.

``A high percentage of business ownership in the Currituck Outer Banks are Dare County residents,'' he said, ``and an extremely large percentage of the employees there are Dare County residents.''

The agreement with Carolina Water, a division of Utilities Inc. of Northbrook, Ill., came under scrutiny after Currituck County officials complained publicly that the Dare board had over-reached its boundaries - and was effectively supplanting Currituck's control of its resources. Dare Republicans had already accused Democrats on the board of pushing the agreement through with no warning, implying that they were trying to appease developers in Currituck.

``We don't gain a thing,'' Byrd reiterated Friday. ``There's pressures from the developers up there. It's an economic issue. There may not be enough water up there to meet their needs.''

The reciprocal agreement with Carolina Water states that the water company would pay costs for 335 feet of pipe to tap into the Dare water main from the county line. In addition, six private water systems would have to be linked together.

Mickey Hayes, a management partner at Kitty Hawk Land Co., a 50-50 partner in the Currituck Club, said Pine Island and the Currituck Club are working on connecting their water systems for emergencies. Buck Island, Monteray Shores and Corolla Light have plans to do the same, he said.

Hayes strongly defended developers in providing for their water needs.

``For anyone to imply that there has been any lack of dedication to create viable utility systems is wrong,'' Hayes said. ``That's an insult for people to make.''

Hayes said the reverse-osmosis system at the Currituck Club, for instance, produces 300,000 gallons a day. And the plant can be expanded to produce up to a million gallons a day.

``There's going to come a time, mark my words, when that Lake Gaston water is flowing south,'' he said. ``It may be that the conduit is working in reverse some day, south to Kill Devil Hills.''

But Hayes said that one way or another, the Currituck systems will eventually be linked.

``They're going to interconnect all the Currituck systems even if Dare County doesn't hook up,'' he said.

Meanwhile, on Monday the Currituck County Board of Commissioners plans to ask the Currituck Club to increase its capacity up to 1 million gallons. The county panel will also consider spending $650,000 to produce 500,000 gallons of raw water a day.

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