DATE: Thursday, November 6, 1997            TAG: 9711060478

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   86 lines

GASTON WATER, ITS COST ARE SPREAD AROUND OTHERS ARE CHIPPING IN, BUT BEACH HAS BEEN PAYING FOR IT SINCE '87.

One in a series of stories leading to the private dedication of the Lake Gaston pipeline Friday near Windsor.

Flush the toilet; jump in the shower; or sip a glass of tap water.

If that's municipal water, chances are good - even if you don't live in Virginia Beach - that some of it will soon come from Lake Gaston. And if it does, you'll be paying at least a little for the 76-mile pipeline that brought it to you.

Because the water systems in South Hampton Roads are so interconnected, Gaston water will likely end up everywhere from downtown Norfolk to northern Suffolk, from Sandbridge to the far reaches of Chesapeake.

In Virginia Beach, municipal water users have been funding the pipeline project since 1987.

Water rates started climbing in 1987, and residents have paid 75 cents toward the pipeline for every 1,000 gallons of water they've drunk, flushed or washed with since 1990. That works out to $118.8 million, or roughly $432 per household over the decade.

But don't expect rates to drop now that the pipeline is pumping water. It isn't cheap to transport water from another area code.

Chesapeake residents will pay $25 million for their involvement in the pipeline, and also for the cost of pumping the 10 million gallons of water per day they will get.

Suffolk is entitled to up to 2 million gallons of water per day from the pipeline - for a contribution of $5 million, plus the cost of water.

And Norfolk will lose more than $5.6 million annually when the Beach has a water supply of its own. For the last six years, Beach water users have paid a surcharge to Norfolk for the privilege of drinking Norfolk water.

Only Portsmouth residents won't part with any cash for the pipeline project.

When the pipeline is finished, sometime next month, the line will have cost $148.8 million.

Virginia Beach has spent about $10.9 million - enough to build a small elementary school - on fees to outside attorneys and other consultants over the last 15 years, and has budgeted $700,000 more before the legal battle is closed.

North Carolina officials say their legal fees are ``a fraction'' of the Beach's total, because they do most of their legal work in-house. But they would not give figures.

The biggest cost was for pieces of pipe 5 feet in diameter. Buying and burying 20,000 pieces of pipe ran about $80 million, Gaston Project Manager Thomas M. Leahy III said.

The Beach is also paying three communities along the route - Suffolk, Isle of Wight and Brunswick counties - about $3 million each to allow the pipeline on their land. They plan to use the money for utility work.

And, Beach taxpayers will pay Norfolk about $155 million over the next 37 years to upgrade and maintain its water treatment system to handle the Gaston water.

All that money is worth it, Beach officials say. The alternative is to close the city to growth and face strict rationing during dry times.

Besides, the Gaston pipeline is under budget and - despite its legal problems - ahead of schedule.

The pipeline was originally estimated to cost $219 million. By redesigning and shortening the route, and thanks to lower than expected inflation rates, the city shaved $70 million from construction costs.

The Public Utilities Department promised to get the pipeline built by next spring, but good weather and efficient contractors helped to speed the project. On Friday, regional officials will dedicate the pipeline near Windsor.

But opponents - who continue to challenge the project in court - argue that Beach's municipal water users could have gotten their water cheaper elsewhere.

``Gaston is far more expensive than it should be,'' said North Carolina Special Deputy Attorney General Alan S. Hirsch.

If Virginia Beach continued to rely on Norfolk's water supply, Hirsch said, it would need only to build one modestly sized well to meet its needs.

``But instead, city officials were determined not to buy water from Norfolk,'' he said. ``In order to replace Norfolk's (supply), they built this monster project.'' ILLUSTRATION: STAFF/File color photo

Construction of the pipeline began in March 1996. Virginia Beach

hoped to complete the pipeline by next spring, but good weather and

efficient contractors helped to speed the project.

Graphic

KEN WRIGHT, The Virginian-Pilot

Lake Gaston Pipeline Statistics

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