Regional water plant dedicated near Kinston
By Staff Reports
Published in News on November 2, 2008 2:00 AM
KINSTON -- A dedication/check-signing ceremony was held last week near Kinston for the $140 million Neuse Regional Water and Sewer Authority water plant.
The state-of-the-art plant will boast a daily production capacity of 12.5 million gallons of water. The contract for the plant was approximately $58 million. Another 10 contracts totaling $50 million was for the line distribution system.
The authority, formed in 2000 to to meet future regional water needs, is a joint effort of water and sewer service providers in Lenoir and Pitt counties.
Members are the town of Ayden, the Bell Arthur Water Corp., the Deep Run Water Corp., the Eastern Pines Water Corp., the town of Grifton, the city of Kinston, the North Lenoir Water Corp. and the town of Pink Hill.
WASA is funded through member contributions. Ongoing design and construction work is being funded through grants and low-interest loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the state, the Rural Center, Tobacco Trust Fund, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other local sources.
Working in conjunction with Lenoir County, the agency in 2000 commissioned a regional water study to determine the best means of addressing future water needs. The study recommended a continued use of safe amounts of groundwater, while developing a new water supply, the Neuse River.
The new water plant and more than 70 miles of water transmission lines across Lenoir and Pitt counties will deliver treated water to each member agency's water distribution system.
The agency began selling water on Sept. 1 serving some 40,000 customers.