DATE: Monday, November 3, 1997              TAG: 9711030159
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SERIES: One in a series of stories leading up to the dedication of the

        Lake Gaston pipeline on Friday.

SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:  143 lines

BEACH PRIMED TO CASE WATER RULES AFTER 5 1/2 YEARS, RESIDENTS COULD AGAIN WATER LAWNS FREELY

Start dusting off the garden hose. Pull up that ``well water in use'' sign. Come up with a new excuse for not washing the car.

The City Council is expected to lift the 5 1/2-year-old residential water use restrictions later this month, after hearing from the public. The council will get a staff briefing at its Tuesday morning work session but has not decided when the changes will take effect.

The end of restrictions will mean that residents may use hoses again instead of 3-gallon buckets to water lawns and plants, and wash cars, sidewalks and buildings. They will also be able to run ornamental fountains and fill swimming pools with municipal water.

Dozens of neighborhoods that were forced to wait more than half a decade for city water will be allowed to hook up once the council acts.

The move would come as planners put the finishing touches on a giant party set for Friday to celebrate the completion of the Lake Gaston pipeline. The extra water, now surging through the 76-mile pipeline, gives the city enough of a cushion against drought to allow local water use to rise.

It is not enough, though, to lift the moratorium on water hookups for new development, officials said. The council will probably leave a modified version of that in place, at least until the summer of 1999.

``The first priority is to relieve the current citizens who have had to sacrifice throughout all these years,'' said council member Louis R. Jones, a member of the council's Water Task Force. Jones said he doesn't want to see a flood of new development that might strain the Beach's still-incomplete water system.

``We have to be conservative to protect our existing citizens,'' Jones said.

Although the construction of the pipeline is basically done, Virginia Beach will be able to access only about 36 million gallons of Gaston water per day until Norfolk can finish expanding a plant needed to treat Gaston water and can move and expand its pumping station in Suffolk. Both projects are to be complete within two years.

Until then, Beach officials said, there is still a chance that summer droughts will force city leaders to reimpose restrictions.

Beach residents and businesses now consume about 32 million gallons of water per day - enough to fill about 240 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Water use is expected to slowly rise to 35 million gallons per day, when the restrictions are lifted, Clarence O. Warnstaff, Virginia Beach director of public utilities, said last week.

At its full capacity, the Lake Gaston pipeline would provide about 45 million gallons of water per day to Virginia Beach. Chesapeake users would be entitled to up to 10 million gallons of the lake water, and Suffolk users could use as much as 2 million gallons per day.

Beach officials have promised to re-evaluate the water system's status next summer and decide whether to lift the moratorium outright.

The city has never enforced the restrictions on residents.

But subdivisions built since early 1992 have had to survive on wells, and the city deferred construction projects in 31 neighborhoods long slated to get municipal water.

If the council modifies the moratorium as expected, 2,900 lots in new developments such as Christopher Farms, Highgate Greens and Hillcrest Farms would be eligible for city water, Warnstaff said.

City projects to link 1,000 homes in older neighborhoods, including Witchduck Point, Lago Mar and Avalon Terrace, would be resumed after a five-year delay, he said.

No new developments could be added to the water system until the moratorium is lifted or modified again. A new subdivision could be built only if the homes can rely on groundwater in the short term, Warnstaff said.

Pipeline opponents in North Carolina argue that the restrictions are unnecessary and should be lifted entirely. There is more than enough water to meet the region's needs, they say, and the water restrictions were imposed merely to strengthen Virginia Beach's hand in its legal battle for the pipeline.

North Carolina and opponents along the Roanoke River in Virginia continue to challenge the pipeline in court.

``Hampton Roads has always had more than enough water except in times of drought, but the city limited water use all the time, even when the reservoirs were overflowing,'' North Carolina Special Deputy Attorney General Alan S. Hirsch said last week. ``Water restrictions were imposed for one reason and one reason only: to justify city officials' decision to build the Lake Gaston pipeline.

``Imposing water restrictions wasn't about water; it was a political decision that got out of hand.''

It's not clear that much will change in Virginia Beach without the restrictions that were imposed in February 1982.

Water rates will remain as high as ever - $3.82 per 1,000 gallons - so most people with wells will probably continue to use groundwater on their lawns and dirty cars.

Carwash businesses will probably still make as much money off people who don't do it themselves. Restaurants won't provide water for diners who would rather drink a soda. Lawn and garden shops will continue to show customers how to have green thumbs and water-wise yards.

And many Beach residents have never really understood the water restrictions. An informal survey at Pembroke Mall this summer revealed that some residents thought it was illegal to wash less than a full load of clothes or let the water run while brushing and flossing.

Debbie Hollobaugh, manager of Waterman's on the Oceanfront, said she thinks restaurants will continue to serve water only on demand, for the sake of conservation - and cost.

``It's just a belief of the owners that it is very wasteful,'' Hollobaugh said. ``Especially when you're doing 500 dinners a night during the summer.''

And conservation's not a bad idea, Hollobaugh said. ``I think you get into that habit, it becomes a way of life. My children harp on me all the time about that.''

Virginia Beach has the lowest water use per capita of any major city in America - and city officials don't expect that to change.

``We're always going to stress conservation, even with Gaston becoming (fully) operational,'' Warnstaff said. ``We want our customers to have the water that they'll need, but we'll never have enough water for people to waste it. We will continue to ask the citizens of Virginia Beach to practice conservation. It helps us and it helps them.''

Jack W. Slawson, one of the owners of Polynesian Pools, was optimistic - but not overly excited - about the prospect of restrictions ending.

``It'll help some,'' he said. ``Some people have been turned off buying pools because they could not fill them with city water, but we've been putting pools in with well water ever since the moratorium took place.''

New pools are routinely filled with water from shallow non-potable wells, costing upwards of $600.

Wayne Reeves, vice president of Four Seasons Nursery in Virginia Beach, said he hopes would-be gardeners will plant more when they won't have to worry about getting in trouble for improper watering.

``I think it will make people feel a lot more comfortable,'' he said. ``People don't like to carry buckets of water across their yards.''

Glenwood resident Susan Cotthaus was pleased to hear the restrictions will end soon.

``Oh, good, now I can wash my car,'' said Cotthaus, who has been using 2-gallon jugs to water her plants.

But Cotthaus doesn't think the end of restrictions will change much around her house.

Her husband will probably still practice ``selective flushing,'' she said. And she'll still flush every time. MEMO: Staff writers Pam Starr, Paul Clancy, Tom Holden and Mike Abrams

contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

The extra water flowing through the 76-mile Lake Gaston pipeline

gives sthe city a cushion against a drought.

HOOKING UP

GRAPHIC

[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]

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