Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Water Resources topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County presenter briefs Mount Airy council on Water Resource Element; hearing scheduled
Summary
A county staffer briefed Mount Airy council on the regional Water Resource Element, a state-required planning document; council scheduled a public hearing to consider adoption or modification locally.
A county planning staff member told the Mount Airy Town Council on May 4 that the Water Resource Element (WRE) is a state-required component of comprehensive planning and must be adopted by elected bodies. The presenter emphasized the WRE documents water supply, wastewater and stormwater conditions as a point-in-time plan based on earlier master plans and recent state guidance.
The presenter said the WRE was compiled as a joint county‑municipal effort, underwent the state-required 60‑day interagency review and was open for public comment from Nov. 12 through Feb. 23; nine planning commissions held hearings and certified the plan with recommendations to elected bodies. The presenter noted the plan does not itself commit the town to action but demonstrates consideration of water and wastewater capacity and potential supply options for future growth.
Mount Airy was described as relatively fortunate on wastewater capacity; however, water-supply limits could require additional wells or other long‑term solutions if the town pursues more growth. The county staffer also described options available for other jurisdictions (surface water intakes, reservoirs, interconnections and reuse) and noted emerging contaminants such as PFAS, microplastics and lithium are discussed in the plan.
Council scheduled a public hearing on the Water Resource Element to occur before the next council meeting (around 7:20 p.m.) to allow residents a local opportunity to comment prior to adoption or modification.
