THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 24, 1994 TAG: 9407220230
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Four million gallons, the daily amount of water Suffolk hopes to pump from three wells, sounds like a lot. It isn't, and that's why officials view the wells as short-term to mid-term remedies for the city's thirst.
A single home requires an average 250 gallons of water daily. Suffolk has more than 17,000 housing units on the books, but the new supply is enough for only 16,000 units.
There's always the chance that some of the units won't get built, but there's also the possibility that even more will go up as Suffolk sees the beginning of its long-awaited growth spurt. The city needs desperately to attract business and industry to expand its tax base, yet that expansion also could mean additional water demands.
The city expects to spend $14 million to get and treat the water from an existing well at Reids Ferry and two others to be opened in the northern growth corridor. New and upgraded pipes and operating costs of a new treatment plant for the northern wells will be extra.
Suffolk's charter mandates that utilities be self-supporting, so new hookups would retire expansion bonds. That's the fair way. Other taxpayers should resist higher water rates citywide; those with city water have paid additional fees over the years.
The short-term solution also underscores the need for long-range water sources, which Suffolk and other Hampton Roads localities are exploring. As people become increasingly aware of Suffolk as a good place to live, as Chesapeake and Virginia Beach confront water problems and legal haggling over the Lake Gaston pipeline drags on, Suffolk's growth will intensify.
The wells certainly are good news for Suffolk, but they don't fulfill Suffolk's long-held dream of water-sufficiency. Water is a resource to be ``spent'' wisely.
KEYWORDS: WATER
by CNB