An environmental assessment says that the town of Boone's controversial proposal to put a water intake in the South Fork of the New River on the Ashe/Watauga county line would have no permanent negative effects on stream flow, recreation or historically significant resources.
People have until Jan. 4 to send comments to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Office in Jefferson.
W.K. Dickson & Co. Inc., an engineering consulting company, prepared the report.
A spokeswoman for USDA Rural Development, Delane Johnson, said that the agency will consider public comment when deciding whether the project can move forward. There's no timeline on when a decision will be made, and the timing could be affected by the volume and type of comments, she said.
Voters in Boone approved a $25 million bond issue last year for a water intake and necessary improvements. The town has proposed financing the project through the USDA. Reviews and permits would be required from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources and other agencies.
Boone has been looking for a new water source for years. A 2004 study said that the town was reaching its capacity to supply water. The plan for the project would ensure an adequate supply through at least 2030, and include a half-million gallons of water a day available for Blowing Rock, which has its own water-source problems.
The proposed intake site is in the Brownwood area. The pump station would be built to resemble a barn, and would be on the south side of the river about a half-mile upstream from the Cranberry Springs Road bridge.
Mia Hartsook, who lives in Fleetwood and opposes the project, said yesterday that she is still studying the report, released last week at 289 pages. She said that it clarifies some things people had wondered about, such as the 26 other options considered, but that people in Ashe County have not been provided adequate voice in what amounts to a regional water system.
"It very directly affects Ashe County," she said. "The people of Ashe County feel this is affecting us and we're not getting our voice represented."
When people packed a school auditorium for a public meeting about the intake this past summer, town officials and engineers told them that some of the questions they had would be answered in this environmental assessment.
The report says that the town is proposing to draw up to 4 million gallons a day from the river by using pipes that would be buried 5 feet below the existing river bottom. Water would flow through gravel and rocks into the screened intake pipes. Once the pipes are installed, the river bottom would be returned to its original slope and contour, the report says, and the intake would not affect canoeing or kayaking.
People at the summer's public meeting were overwhelmingly opposed to the project, and one of the concerns was the river's low water level in the area, especially during drought.
Engineers collected information about water flow at the intake during a study in February 2009. The water measured 1.38 feet at its deepest point. The measured flow was 117.5 cubic feet a second, the report said. That's about 75.5 million gallons a day.
Copies of the environmental assessment can be reviewed at Boone Town Hall or the USDA office in Jefferson, or can be found at www.townofboone.net.
People who want to comment should respond in writing to USDA Rural Development, Attn: Sandra Lawrence, 134 Government Circle, Suite 201, Jefferson, NC 28640.
mmitchell@wsjournal.com
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