Water effort links Salisbury, Rowan County

BY MARK WINEKA
SALISBURY POST

The city of Salisbury and Rowan County appear ready to work together to supply water to the new Carolina Power & Light plant, an important industrial corridor and drought-stricken southern Rowan County.

Salisbury City Manager David Treme said Tuesday the joint effort of city and county governments will usher in a “new era of cooperation on something that has been divisive in the past.”

Hashed out during the past six weeks, the agreement will show city officials that “a long-term, harmonious relationship with the county on water-sewer issues is possible,” Treme added.

Treme made his comments Tuesday toward the end of a Salisbury City Council meeting. Without citing specifics, Treme said he expected to be able to brief council members on full details within the next several days.

A joint meeting of city and county officials also appears to be in the works.

“Things are going incredibly well,” Treme said.

The pending agreement will put the city and county “on the same team,” Treme predicted. He said the CP&L electric generating plant under construction off U.S. 70 will serve as a catalyst to city-county cooperation on other water-sewer projects.

Treme said the city will benefit by adding needed water customers at no cost to ratepayers. The county will be using its “financial muscle,” Treme said, to bring utility services to CP&L and an important industrial corridor that could greatly enhance the county tax base.

The partnership also offers the prospects of getting water to the thirsty towns of China Grove, Landis and Kannapolis.

CP&L approached both the county and city this summer for help in getting 7 million gallons of partially treated water to its projected $450-million power plant.

Salisbury had one advantage in already having its permit to draw water from the Yadkin River.

For several months, Rowan County officials, working with southern Rowan municipalities, looked at locating their own intake on the Yadkin River to draw 20 million gallons of water daily.

That $15 million to $17 million proposal would have provided water to CP&L but also could be tied into an existing 30-inch Kannapolis water line that extends to Second Creek, possibly making millions of gallons of water available to the towns now facing emergency water situations.

The city-county partnership likely could supply water to China Grove, Landis and Kannapolis. The Rowan County Board of Commissioners clearly stated in the past its three-fold mission: to provide water to the power plant, the U.S. 70 corridor and southern Rowan.