by Elissa Yount
Editor’s Note: Former two-term Henderson City Council member Elissa Yount has agreed to write an article to be published each Wednesday for a few weeks or more. Her purpose in composing these columns is to address issues that she believes are important for citizens to think about as the filing date for running for the council approaches in June. She encourages readers to submit questions to her, and she will see if she can find the answers.
There are some very important meetings coming up concerning our water.
The notices are attached to this article, and they explain some of what is going on. We should make an effort to attend or submit our questions in writing.
For reference, Henderson is a 60% partner in the Kerr Lake Regional Water System (KLRWS). Another consulting engineering firm has been hired (replacing the previous firm) to work on acquiring a permit to transfer water from one basin to another. This permit is required before the KLRWS can proceed with expansion of the water treatment plant.
This process was begun many years ago. A scoping document was drafted and environmental concerns were addressed. The KLRWS invested a significant amount money into this initial effort. From this, we learned that some of the requirements before an IBT permit could be considered were that, as partners:
1) We must show a documented need for the additional water;
2) We must have a water conservation plan in place, and;
3) We must have “tiered water rates.”
The term “tiered water rates” essentially means that the more water you use, the more you pay. Raleigh changed to a tiered rates system just last week. Presently, our system works the other way around. It does not matter why we charge the way we do and that, once, our way may have been used to attract industry — it is now a change that is required. Oxford and Warren County already have their rates tiered. Oxford explained exactly how they got their large industrial users to buy into paying more for their water, so we know it can be done locally.
When this requirement was emphasized, an outside consultant came to Henderson and, without any cost to the city, explored how to effect tiered rates for our water users. To my knowledge, Henderson has not done this. Unless we do, we probably will not be considered for an IBT permit, regardless of how many studies we complete.
Whether or not Henderson can show that their water needs are increasing, and whether or not we can show that we have a conservation plan for using brown water, or recycling water, or building ordinances requiring “low flow” are all investigations for another day or questions to raise at these meetings.
In addition, including a discharge into the Neuse River as a part of our IBT permit might indicate that it is Oxford and Creedmoor that can better show the need for additional water. Would this mean that the taxpayers in Henderson could be paying 60% of the cost for both the study and any future construction of a facility for which primarily only Oxford and Creedmoor can prove a need? If this permit is allowed, does Henderson have the capability to treat the wastewater? If not, would an IBT permit require that we have the capacity to treat additional water? What about the state laws that are being introduced to control IBT? Could new state laws supersede and make our expensive study useless? All of these questions need to be asked, and answered.
Could this be the time to investigate whether a Water Authority should be formed to oversee this very valuable asset of water? Managing the Kerr Lake Regional Water System is massive job that involves financial, environmental, engineering and especially health expertise. Water is a great future resource for our vicinity, and we are leaving the control of water primarily to elected officials whose knowledge base changes as often as new officials are elected. This is yet another question that the public needs to consider.
Please attend these meetings and ask your questions. Decide if we are putting the cart before the horse or putting the right cart before the horse.