THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 1, 1996 TAG: 9608290006
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 43 lines
In the final analysis it always comes down to this: water.
With it, communities blossom and prosper. Without it, they stagnate and wither away.
In recent years the Hampton Roads map could be divided into the H20 haves and have nots: Norfolk has it, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake do not. The Eastern Shore of Virginia is thirsty, but the Peninsula is not.
It would seem logical that communities would work together to share water and solve problems, but they don't. One of the nastiest municipal fights in memory flared this spring when Norfolk released a water study that the Beach said could sabotage its efforts to complete the Lake Gaston pipeline.
City officials in both places are still smarting and barely speaking - all because of water.
Hampton Roads could take a lesson from Northeastern North Carolina where five communities are looking at ways to solve their common water problems. While Dare, Currituck, Camden and Pasquotank counties and Elizabeth City are hardly the metropolises of Hampton Roads, they set a fine example of communities working regionally to bring prosperity to all.
One of the most-exciting things to come out of these North Carolina talks is a commitment to reverse osmosis, the process of producing drinking water from salty or brackish water - something all of Hampton Roads has plenty of.
While expensive, reverse osmosis actually removes impurities from drinking water, while traditional water-treatment processes add chemicals to make water safe for drinking.
Hampton Roads should look south to North Carolina for an example of communities beginning impressive regional cooperation. Then again, maybe the North Carolinians gazed north for an example of how not to do things.
Ironically, at the same time Northeastern North Carolina is poised to work regionally to solve a serious problem, an opportunity to form a super-regional water solution is being floated. As compensation to North Carolina for the loss of Lake Gaston water - that lake straddles the border between Virginia and Carolina - some of the pipeline's water could be diverted to those northeastern communities.
That makes sense. And good neighbors. by CNB