ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 7, 1996 TAG: 9612100026
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
The town of Vinton has asked Bedford County to help fund a joint study that will determine the possibility of Vinton's providing public water to the county's Stewartsville area.
The Bedford County Board of Supervisors will decide Monday night if it wants to allocate money for the study.
If the study shows that Vinton can economically sell water to Bedford, government officials hope the resulting water lines could create the kind of economic and residential growth in Stewartsville that the county has seen in affluent Forest, near Lynchburg. Forest is the only district in the county with extensive public water.
"We started in the 1970s developing the east end; now it's time to go to the west end" of the county, said Supervisor Dale Wheeler, who represents Stewartsville, one of the county's designated growth areas in its zoning plan.
"Wells have been failing across the western part of the county," Wheeler said. "[Now] you drill a deeper well and pray. We need to do better than that." Wheeler also believes water lines could be a long-term investment for attracting new industry to the county.
Bedford County's comprehensive water and sewer plan drafted in 1994 suggested either Vinton's or Roanoke County's public-water systems or Smith Mountain Lake as potential water sources for Stewartsville.
Wheeler and county Planning Director Garland Page both said they thought it would be more economical to buy water from Vinton's existing system than to build a new water system at the lake, which is also farther away and would require more water lines.
Vinton Town Manager Clayton Goodman could not be reached for comment. He wrote to Bedford County last month suggesting that the county fund half of the $8,300 feasibility study, or $4,150. Bedford County would only pay the fee if Vinton offers to sell water and the county declines.
But if the localities reach an agreement to provide water for Stewartsville, Bedford's share of the study would be rolled into its water purchases.
Wheeler says he supports an agreement with Vinton, though he warns that discussions - which he said have been conducted privately between the two localities for more than a year - are still preliminary.
"It's up to Vinton. I think Bedford would like to have some public water, but Vinton has the decision here," Wheeler said. "They can say yes or no. They have the water; we don't."
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