DATE: Thursday, November 6, 1997            TAG: 9711060486

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   47 lines

WATER HARMONY HAS SUFFOLK BREATHING MUCH EASIER NOW

A bit of earlier city cooperation on this region's most precious commodity already has officials here breathing easier about meeting Suffolk's infrastructure needs.

Suffolk officials released the city's proposed utility project plan for the next two years on Wednesday night. And City Council members learned that their decision to buy water from Portsmouth earlier this year has given them more flexibility when it comes to serving Suffolk's growing population.

The proposed $14.9 million water list and the $6.6 million sewer list for the next two years includes transporting water to sections of the northeast and southern portions of Suffolk that might not have been able to receive water as quickly before the Portsmouth agreement.

In September, the Portsmouth and Suffolk councils passed a resolution allowing Suffolk to purchase more water from Portsmouth. Suffolk was already buying about 500,000 gallons from its neighboring city.

``The agreement has allowed us to make wise decisions and has given us better flexibility in our system,'' said Al Moor, Suffolk's director of public utilities.

The $21.6 million proposed utility project list includes installing a main to transmit water from Carolina Road to the Suffolk Municipal Airport and installing water mains in several neighborhoods, including the Rosemont, Chuckatuck, Wilroy Acres, Nansemond Gardens, Holly Acres/Respass Beach and Bethlehem Court/Barrett Acres communities.

It also includes rehabilitating several sewage treatment plants and providing city sewer systems to Holland Heights, Palmyra, Deerfield, Oakridge East, Arbor Meadows, Holly Acres/Respass Beach and Nansemond Point/Holiday Point communities.

In other business, City Council voted unanimously to work with the Hampton Roads Sanitation District to install a sewer main along Carolina Road to the Suffolk Municipal Airport, where the city is building a new industrial park.

The City Council and Planning Commission also voted unanimously to finalize an agreement with Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake on the Lake Gaston pipeline project by amending the permit restrictions it has with Norfolk.

Now Norfolk can expand its pumping station in Suffolk to carry Lake Gaston water to Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.

The three larger cities had filed a suit against Suffolk in March, when Suffolk said it would only allow the pumping station expansion if Norfolk agreed to limit its use of groundwater in Suffolk.

Suffolk said that their current settlement gives them that guarantee.

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