NORFOLK
Mayor Paul Fraim will announce today that the city will sell up to 15 million gallons of water per day to Suffolk and Isle of Wight County.
Fraim and elected officials from Suffolk and Isle of Wight will gather at 1 p.m. at TowneBank Fountain Park, adjacent to Waterside, to make the announcement.
Councilman Barclay C. Winn said the city will sell surplus water to Suffolk and Isle of Wight when needed.
City officials declined to provide other details, such as how much Norfolk will make.
"It's a good agreement is all I can say at this point," said Joe Barlow, a Suffolk City Councilman and member of the Western Tidewater Water Authority.
Suffolk Councilman Robert Barclay said his city "is not running out of water," but he added that securing a long-term supply would be very valuable to the city.
Stan Clark, a member of Isle of Wight's Board of Supervisors, said the agreement will last 25 years and provide his county with critically needed water. He said the deal followed a couple of years of negotiations.
"The DEQ is not allowing a whole lot of ground water withdrawals anymore," Clark said, referring to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
Norfolk's extensive reservoir system, created by the city more than a century ago, includes a series of lakes and rivers from Virginia Beach to Western Tidewater. Norfolk draws water from Lake Burnt Mills in Isle of Wight and Lake Prince and the Western Branch Reservoir in Suffolk.
Water provided to Suffolk and Isle of Wight will be pumped to Norfolk to be treated, then pumped back out to Western Tidewater.
Norfolk provides water to 800,000 people in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, parts of Chesapeake and most military installations in South Hampton Roads. According to the city's Web site, Norfolk's reservoirs are nearly 90 percent full.
Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com
Dave Forster, (757) 222-5563, dave.forster@pilotonline.com
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Hey Beach Bullies....
Where are all of your comments here???? You're so ready and willing to trash Norfolk over just about every move they make, I'm surprised you haven't grasped this opportunity. Oh, wait, you can't, because this was a smart move.
Early on Norfolk realized they needed to secure ample water rights, and did so smartly. Remember that 15 year boondoggle you called the Gaston pipeline? Where does that water go? Not to the Beach, it goes to Norfolk.
Year in, and year out, Norfolk has had, does have, and will continue to have the best leadership in all of SE Virginia. Deal with it....