
DATE: Thursday, November 20, 1997           TAG: 9711200443

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOHN MURPHY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   96 lines

IT'S BROWN, ICKY, WET ... AND BEAUTIFUL THANKS TO GASTON'S BOUNTY, A BEACH SUBDIVISION SEES ITS FIRST CITY WATER.

Chocolate-colored water gushed from fire hydrants, spewed from blow-off valves and flooded the streets of the Newcastle subdivision.

No ceremony or speeches marked the event, just city crews methodically flushing stagnant, often unpleasant-looking liquid from water mains.

But for residents of this 4-year-old subdivision off Salem Road, it was a day to celebrate the first glimpse of city water in their neighborhood.

Just one day after the Beach City Council voted to lift the majority of the city's 5 1/2-year-old water restrictions, crews took steps to link about 4,700 homes and lots to the municipal water system. Water hookups for new development are still prohibited.

The council's decision followed the Nov. 7 dedication of the Lake Gaston pipeline, which eventually could deliver 48 million gallons of water daily to the Beach.

Newcastle is the first of about 50 subdivisions that will be connected to the city's water supply.

Some residents said the water cannot arrive soon enough.

``I can't wait. I want to get water as soon as I can. I'm sure everybody does,'' said Don McNally, a retired Marine officer who tinkered on his car outside his home Wednesday morning.

Since moving into the Newcastle subdivision in August, McNally has depended on a well. City water restrictions have prohibited McNally and his neighbors from connecting to the city water system.

With the restrictions lifted, however, McNally will be allowed to tap into city lines, probably within two weeks.

The lines are already in place but have sat stagnant for years in some areas. Newcastle's water lines were installed in 1994.

On Wednesday, nearly four years later, crews flushed the first gallons of stale water from the pipes. The water looked brownish from sediment buildup but ran clear about 30 minutes later.

``If there was a better way to do this without wasting water we would do it,'' said James Cherry, a civil engineer for the Beach department of public utilities, as he watched the water disappear down the gutter.

City crews will flush water mains in all 50 affected subdivisions over the next 90 days. The city has given priority to neighborhoods where the quality of well water is poor.

The city then will mail out letters to homeowners, informing them of their option to connect to the water lines. Connections will be voluntary at first, but eventually the city will require all homes with access to city water to hook up.

People in the new developments already have paid for hookups in the price of their homes. They have to ante up $100 to $200 for a permit to install a water meter and the cost of plumbing. Hookups will cost $1,500 to $2,000 for residents in older neighborhoods who have not already paid.

City officials predict that the 4,700 new hookups will increase water demand by about 1 million gallons per day.

The end of restrictions on car washing and lawn watering will add another 3 million gallons per day to the city's usage rates, city officials said.

All totaled, the changes will increase Virginia Beach's daily water use to 36 million gallons per day.

Not all residents were sure they would make the switch immediately.

Carol Stein, who moved to the neighborhood in September from Washington, D.C., said she had no reason to stop using well water.

``I have no problem with the taste,'' she said.

McNally, however, said he is tired of sinking $22 a month into a water softener to improve his well water's quality. ``We're looking forward to the water,''he said. ILLUSTRATION: The Newcastle subdivision has had city water lines

since 1994, but they had been unused until Wednesday, when the city

flushed the first gallons of water from the pipes. Newcastle is one

of about 50 existing subdivisions that will be connected to the

city's water supply as Virginia Beach gears up for the addition of

water from Lake Gaston.

STEVE EARLEY

The Virginian-Pilot

WATER ACCESS

These are the Neighborhoods where city water will be available:

By Dec. 19:

Newcastle, Hillcrest Farm, Stumpy Lake Lane, Indian River

Plantation, Brigadoon Pines, Little Neck Estates, Witchduck Point,