Water woes top

Watauga

intergovernmental retreat
By Frank Ruggiero
ruggiero@wataugademocrat.com

The rain clouds may have cleared in time for the April 28 intergovernmental retreat, but water was on the minds of the county, municipal and university representatives in attendance.

Tom Westall, facilitator with Lead for Life Character-Based Leadership, moderated the meeting, featuring officials and staff from Watauga County, Boone, Blowing Rock, Seven Devils and Appalachian State University.

Three issues for discussion surfaced at Chetola Resort, where the meeting was held, including regional water, a consolidated emergency dispatch system and a fire truck for Appalachian State.

Attendees introduced themselves and stated their years of experience in community service, which Westall added up to arrive at 636 years of combined experience. And six centuries’ worth of experience said water was paramount as the topic of regional water dominated the bulk of the retreat.

Debbie Hamrick, specialty crops director with the N.C. Farm Bureau, appeared to discuss the matter, not as a Farm Bureau representative, but as someone who has learned “interesting things” about water throughout her career.

Hamrick explained that most of North Carolina’s water comes from rock aquifers, with most of said water being 15,000 years old. Most of the state’s rainfall is evaporated, though North Carolina receives an average of 50 inches per year, and roughly 25 percent of that rainfall comes from tropical storms.

Thirty-four of the 50 inches are lost to evaporation, and 15 inches runs off into the ground to eventually charge the streams, Hamrick said.

Accumulation can be somewhat difficult at higher elevations, she said, since most rainwater runs downhill, providing less of a chance for retention and storage. Taking note of the town of Boone’s situation, in which it must find an additional intake and build a new water plant to accommodate future growth, Hamrick offered solutions on increasing capacity.

One solution is to build more reservoirs, but she said this doesn’t seem very realistic, in that the best sites are already taken. Another possible solution is desalination, as is reducing demand by limiting growth. She also suggested conservation to reduce per capita use.

More than 50 percent of water is used indoors, Hamrick noted, adding that the main problem comes when trying to regulate water use in the home. While one resident might be willing to conserve, another might not.

Boone mayor pro tem Lynne Mason described the water situation in Watauga County as “dynamic,” in that the county is home to headwaters of four river basins. Westall asked about the county’s status when it comes to water, and Boone town manager Greg Young described the situation.

Recently, Boone entered an emergency interconnect agreement with Appalachian State University, which maintains its own water system, as well as an agreement with Blowing Rock for an emergency interconnection, which could be used to sell water in the future.

Young said the town of Boone is trying to acquire land near the New River Basin to meet its needs for a total of 7 million gallons per day, in addition to the current authorization of 3 million gallons per day pulled from Winkler’s Creek and the South Fork of the New River.

In the interim, he said the town hopes to high-rate the current water plant to add an additional 1.5 mgd to its capacity.

Mason said that cost is a factor, as water is not free. Acquiring a site, building an intake and transmission lines to Boone for treatment winds up at $18.5 million, she said. A new treatment facility would boost the cost to near $40 million. This cost, she said, will fall on the shoulders of water customers.

Young noted that 500,000 gallons per day were allotted from the future amount for Blowing Rock, if available.

Jim Deal, chairman of the Watauga County Board of Commissioners, as well as the ASU Board of Trustees, observed that the university has an excess capacity and that it doesn’t anticipate any new projects that would use up the capacity.

“If Blowing Rock were in need of water … it would seem to me that we should turn on that flow from ASU through Boone to Blowing Rock,” Deal said.

Young noted that the ASU interconnection serves two purposes – an emergency supply of water for either party and the opportunity to “shave peaks” when one party’s water usage becomes exceptionally high.

“It seems to me we’ve got this pot of water available, and we need to figure out how to dispense that water in the most efficient manner to benefit the whole group, which is everybody sitting here,” Deal said.

County commissioner Winston Kinsey acknowledged that emergency interconnections are helpful, but said it doesn’t solve the main problem. “The problem we face is there is no storage, or very little storage,” he said.

Deal said he didn’t foresee a county-wide water system, “but there are areas that we do need water to be able to develop the kind of growth we’d want to support.”

Addressing Deal’s earlier suggestion, ASU chief of staff Lorin Baumhover said, “We do have some excess capacity … and we can help out on an interim basis, but ASU is not the solution.”

With projected growth of future freshman classes by 50 to 70 new students each year for the next decade, Baumhover said the university is mandated by the state to grow.

Seven Devils mayor pro tem Richard DeMott told how Seven Devils has been running a water initiative for a couple of years. When the town first called the U.S. Geological Survey for some water data, DeMott said he was surprised to hear them say no, that the town and its capacity have never been studied. In response, Seven Devils started its own effort to assess its situation. He said the study is now under way, and results are forthcoming.

The group decided to establish six short-term goals for water in the region – Determine combined capacity and understand the demand for a 10-year projection; continue to stress conservation, investigating water efficiency, facilities, etc.; talk with representatives from other counties, seek regional solutions; coming together for a concentrated effort on the political level; establishing criteria as defined by all parties; and work on communication for water management.

Subcommittees comprised of county and municipal officials and staff are to address each topic and report back in 45 days.