Caldwell County should have kept Happy Valley aquifer

August 9, 2011

I have publicly supported the fiscal policies of the current Caldwell County Board of Commissioners, compared to those of the previous board (prior to 2009). But Monday, August 1, was a dark day for Caldwell County as current commissioners voted to sell—or practically give away—396 acres in Happy Valley sitting atop a 1.2-million-gallons-per-day proven aquifer of pristine drinking water.

Thanks to these commissioners, not only will the county not have use of the aquifer, if it’s ever needed, but over $1 million in taxpayers’ money previously spent on the Happy Valley site is now, officially, wasted.



Not only that, but $700,000 of the wasted funds was a grant from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, which traded its share of the purchase money for 168 acres in easements to prohibit development too close to the area’s surface water resources.

If Caldwell County were to need another CWMTF grant in the future, what do you think are the chances of getting one? Zero, at least for a long time?

Acquired by the 2007 board for about $1.6 million, this aquifer property is near the headwaters of the mighty Yadkin River, which provides water in Wilkes County, Winston-Salem, High Point, Concord, etc. Of 24 test wells there, one is artesian, meaning that natural ground pressures force the water out like a fountain; in others, water comes almost to the surface.

The previous board was going to build a fresh-water reservoir there—then the drought ended in 2009. Or did it? Reservoir plans were tabled, but some government agencies still consider the area to be in a long-term drought.

I want to add my voice to those of others calling for a less drastic “solution” to the “problem” at hand: rather than sell this property for a fraction of its value, the commissioners should have leased it to a private entity for a period of years, with the land reverting to county control afterwards.

Current county commissioners tend to think with one mind: that of Chairman Ben Griffin. Most votes wind up at least 4-1 his way. While I have supported Mr. Griffin on other issues, I have considered his position on this sale since February and have concluded that there’s no compelling reason to have sold this valuable property, not now or any time soon.

Even after two university degrees, I keep returning to something my mother taught me: “It’s better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it.”

Mr. Griffin wants to save $70,000 a year in debt service on $503,000 the county still owes on the Happy Valley property. But he is willing to practically give it away for less than a third of what the county paid ($555,000)—thus squandering over $1 million. A lease could easily have brought in more than the $70,000 that bothers Mr. Griffin so much.

His political opponents accuse Mr. Griffin of wanting to cut the budget so deeply that he can also cut property taxes before his reelection run in 2012. That might explain his persistence on this; I don’t know.

Normally, I am the last person who wants to spend $70,000 on interest, but in a budget of over $79.265 million for next year, Caldwell County will spill more than that. If $70,000 is such a big issue, I’ll happily walk through county operations and show the commissioners where they can cut another one percent.

Mr. Griffin reduces everything to a “business plan;” indeed, I look for returns on investment, too. He worries how many millions it will cost to access the fresh water aquifer. But it’s “ground water,” which requires little-to-no chemical treatment under state law, compared to “surface water,” which is everything that runs into the Catawba River.

You still have to distribute it, yes, but the Happy Valley water is already clean! If we ever needed to use that water, we’d need to remember that county water system pipes are already in the ground. All we would need is to establish pumps at a different end.
 
Bill Puette has written about the Catawba being “in trouble” from water demands downstream as Charlotte and other cities continue to grow, jeopardizing Caldwell’s economic future. I heartily agree that what will surely grow is Charlotte’s water needs.

Where does all public water in Caldwell County come from? From the Catawba, of course—but mostly, from Lake Rhodhiss, an aging lake on the EPA “impaired” list that’s contaminated by sediments, nitrogen, phosphorus and human and industrial wastes.

I have studied local water issues for years on committees examining Lake Rhodhiss and the Catawba and its tributaries. In another 50-100 years, unless we take drastic (and expensive) counter action, I believe Lake Rhodhiss will be little more than a nasty swamp. Lenoir, which provides county water, has already extended its treatment intake pipe farther into the lake to take in cleaner water from a dirty lake.

The last big company to locate here, Google, uses millions of gallons of water per week. Could we accept another Google here even if we wanted to?

Where will Caldwell County get its drinking water when Lake Rhodhiss dries up? Where will we find another 1.2 million gallons a day that we know is already clean?

Dennis A. Benfield
Hudson