Grant will keep Boone water options flowing

By Scott Nicholson
nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

The town of Boone is dredging up the past and moving toward a more fluid future with a recently announced grant from the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

The $600,000 grant will cover a portion of the costs of removing sand and sediment from the dam at Winkler’s Creek, where the town of Boone has one of its two water-system intakes.

Boone water and sewer director Rick Miller said the work would expand the town’s flexibility, though the total amount of treated water would be the same. The town is permitted to withdraw a total of 3 million gallons per day from either of its two intake sites. The Winkler’s Creek site has essentially become a back-up for the main intake on the South Fork of the New River, and Miller said deepening the intake site would allow the town to be able to access that option more often.

“Under our permit, the withdrawal amount stays the same at 3 million gallons a day from either intake or a combination of both,” Miller said. “What this will do is create more water behind the dam. If we utilize that intake, we can only use it for an hour or an hour and a half, and we are required by permit to have so much water going by over the dam.”

Miller said the Winkler’s Creek intake is only used about once a month, mainly to keep the equipment in good working order. He said the intake could become important if an accident or some other contamination led to the closing of the South Fork intake.

“We could pull water from Winkler’s Creek without any adverse effects and we’ll have a more efficient secondary intake,” Miller said.

Winkler’s Creek was recently upgraded to a Wild Trout Waters classification by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission because of the health and quality of the waterway.

Boone and Appalachian State University have agreed to a water interconnection, with both parties splitting the cost, and Boone and Blowing Rock are raising money for an interconnection, creating more options in the event of drought or emergency.

Boone Town Manager Greg Young said the town would be seeking more grant money to complete the dredging project, with the work yet to be engineered. Young estimates the project will cost around $1 million.

“As we have learned in recent months, water is a precious commodity and we need to take whatever steps we can to ensure that the people of our state have access to good, clean water,” N.C. Sen. Steve Goss (D-45) said in announcing the grant. “This project, like the others we have been working on lately, will help us toward that goal.”

N.C. Rep. Cullie Tarleton (D-93) also supported the grant as chairman of the Water Resources and Infrastructure committee and vice-chairman of the Environment and Natural Resources committee.

Boone voters adopted a $25 million bond referendum in November to construct a new water intake on the South Fork of the New River in Brownwood, with environmental review of the project underway. Boone is seeking to draw an additional 4 million gallons of raw water per day.