Counties in the Lumber River region have more water these days than money to study their water situation.

Moore County is a member of the multi-county initiative to explore the regional water concept. The Board of Commissioners recently agreed to participate, provided no local funds are needed.

But so far a grant to study the concept has not emerged.

“It was our original understanding that the state would find some money,” County Manager Cary McSwain said. “We need to get a grant first.”

The Lumber River Council of Governments has agreed to seek one or more grants to cover a preliminary engineering study. One option is the North Carolina Rural Development Center.

McSwain said the regional group of local governments has not held a meeting in recent weeks but representatives have been communicating by e-mail. This is likely to continue until there is some positive news about a prospective grant.

Although the prospect of matching funds from member local governments has been mentioned, McSwain said he has consistently reminded the others that the original plan calls for a grant to cover the cost of the study with no funds to come from member governments.

In the meantime, Scotland County and the city of Laurinburg are continuing to discuss merging their utility systems and the idea of acquiring the water and sewer plants built more than 30 years ago to serve a huge textile plant near Wagram in Scotland County.

These plants, most recently serving the WestPoint Pepperell operation, are the facilities that the village of Pinehurst tried without success to purchase last year. The Pinehurst effort was shelved because the Scotland County Board of Commissioners failed to approve the purchase, pending the results of an engineering study. The water and wastewater treatment facilities are privately owned, but state law requires approval by county authorities before such utilities may be purchased.

Scotland County is expressing interest in merging its utilities systems with those of Laurinburg, which has owned and operated municipal systems for many years. The city already provides water and sewer capacity and maintenance services to the county, which pays the city for utility billing and collection services.

Although Laurinburg makes money off water sales, Scotland County has a $200,000 deficit, something that an engineer recently told the two local governments could be remedied by raising rates. Dave Zimmerman, the engineer who conducted a water study for Laurinburg, said the county rates are too low. Zimmerman also said a merger of the two systems would be practical.

Village Wants Role

In the past two years, Moore County has increased its water capacity and now boasts more than enough water to meet the needs of the county system, including the village of Pinehurst, which provides the principal customer base.

The village continues to chafe because its efforts to acquire its own utilities have failed over several decades.

At a recent meeting of the Moore County Board of Commissioners, the village renewed its plea in the form of an offer made by Councilwoman Nancy Roy Fiorillo during the board’s public-comment period.

Unlike other speakers at that meeting, dominated by a public hearing on the proposed budget, Fiorillo told the commissioners that the village wants to give money to the county.

“The village doesn’t have a big pot of money, but it does have the capacity to borrow,” she said. “The village would like to own its water system.”

Fiorillo said the village does not oppose a regional system but would like to be part of any regional system that is formed.

“This is an opportunity for us to work together,” she said.

In keeping with board policy, no one responded to her remarks at the end of the public comment period, or later in the meeting.

The village offered to buy the portion of the county system serving Pinehurst several years ago, but ultimately the two local governments were unable to reach agreement on terms of the purchase.

No Problems Now

At present, water is not a problem in Moore County, or anywhere else in North Carolina. But the entire region has vivid memories of two periods of drought in the previous decade, one in which both the county and the town of Southern Pines had serious water shortages.

Not only have rains in the past year alleviated fears of drought, but also the county has also increased its water capacity. The county now reports an excess capacity of at least 1.4 million gallons, more than enough to meet Pinehurst area needs on any day of peak capacity. Maximum capacity for the entire system is now 5.6 million gallons a day, but peak demand has never exceeded 4.2 million gallons a day, according to county utilities officials.

Moore County already buys water from Harnett County, the towns of Southern Pines and Aberdeen and is in negotiations with Montgomery County.

The county has no surface water and relies on ground water and a series of wells to extract water from the aquifer. It also is negotiating with Robbins, Carthage and Laurinburg for water purchases.

Despite contracts to buy water from other local governments, Moore County leaders recognize that reliance on other water sources can be risky, especially in times of drought when other communities may be unable to comply with terms of their contracts.

In such times, the county could not have too many contracts available, and it would be advantageous to be part of a self-sufficient regional system.

Moore County is not a member of the Lumber River Council of Governments, but Scotland County, Laurinburg, Robeson County and other local governments form part of the Lumber River Basin. A small area in southern Moore County lies within the Lumber River Basin, of which Drowning Creek is a tributary.

Most of Moore County is in the Cape Fear Basin, the largest in the state, and serving Harnett, Cumberland and Hoke counties. Montgomery County is in the Yadkin-Pee Dee Basin with a sliver in the Cape Fear Basin.

The state’s interbasin transfer regulations make it difficult to buy more than one million gallons between basins, a factor that makes it more satisfactory to create deals with water systems within one’s own basin.

In January, state Rep. Jamie Boles orchestrated the first regional meeting in Laurinburg, with representatives of several counties, including Moore and Scotland, invited to discuss the possibility of cooperating on a regional water system.

Boles, whose district encompasses most of Moore County, says that within a few years, the state is expected to assume control of water allocations. By forming a regional system, Moore and other counties in this area would be in a favorable position to get in on the ground floor if and when such a change takes place.

Contact Florence Gilkeson by e-mail at florence@thepilot.com.