from Contributor Reports
WATER NEWS
The Kerr Lake Regional Water Advisory Committee will meet on April 9 at 10:00 a.m. in the City Hall Conference Room.
This committee meeting is open to the public and discusses the management and operations including budget concerns for all the partners in the regional water system.
County residents who are interested in the future management of a water system that they are asked to buy into have the opportunity to attend this meeting. The Henderson City Clerk can provide all the contracts including the water storage contract for information when requested.
Budget information on operating costs, costs of past projects and projects that are yet to be closed out can also be obtained. In addition information on permits and a listing of staff requirements can be provided. The committee meeting will provide an opportunity for education on how the partnership is managed.
There has been ongoing consideration of hiring a consulting engineer to oversee the process for acquiring a permit to allow the KLRW system to transfer water from one basin to another. The partners have already invested over $150,000 in this effort. The cost estimates of just acquiring a permit can be as much as $500,000. A permit is required before the partnership can enlarge the plant. The plant would have to be enlarged in order to treat more water and thus increase the amount of water that can be sold or consumed. The last cost estimates on enlarging the plant were in excess of $20 million dollars. In the past, the city has advertised for a professional engineer to oversee management of water.
Henderson is the managing partner of the KLRWS and holds ownership of 60% of the water system with the City of Oxford and Warren County owning the other 40%. The system has a water storage contract with the Corps of Engineers. This contract assures that the region has available water for 29 more years. Henderson, Oxford, and Warren County all have allotments. Henderson presently sells water to Franklin County.
In order for the Vance County to supply water, one of the partners would have to agree to sell some of their allotment to the county. Presently the residents in Middleburg purchase water from Warren County and the residents in Kittrell purchase water from Franklin County. Henderson has also been asked to consider selling water to Oxford for them to sell to Creedmoor.
If the county passes the water bond, the City of Henderson could require that the county infrastructure of piping be to Henderson’s standards. One problem of the system now is that pipes have asbestos and cutting through them is harmful.
WATER WOES
Sediment carried by storm water runoff is the number one pollutant of North Carolina’s lakes and streams, according to the state Division of Land Resources. Letting runoffs pollute our waterways can raise the cost of treating water for drinking. Henderson has a storm water ordinance but it applies only to the Tar Pamlico River Basin. In other words, it applies mostly to land on the east side of the railroad track. Construction sites on the west side are not covered by the city’s storm water ordinance.
There is a way that you can report violations on construction sites. If you see construction sites and do not see sediment fences, or silt fences that have toppled over or you see muddy runoffs on roads you can call the Division of Water Quality, Raleigh Regional Office at 919.791.4200 and/or email to www.muddywaterwatch.org.