At the
Library
See page 35
Vol. 9, No.lO
A Shoreline Community, Pine Knoll Shores, N.C.
April 2013
Cierra Tomaso, left, and Destiny King represented the Nortli Carolina Aquarium Ocean Action
Club at the Student Summit on Oceans and Coasts in Washington, D.C. March 9 -12.
NC Aquarium Sends Students to DC
The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores teamed up with area home school students
to help protect the seas. The Aquarium launched the Ocean Action Club for middle school and high
school students last September as part of the annual Homeschool Day activities. Two club members
headed to Washington, D.C. March 9 - 12 to present their ideas to the National Student Summit on.
Oceans and Coasts.
In the inquiry-based club, said organizer and Aquarium Educator Gail Lemiec, members choose
the topic to research and how to implement solutions they develop.
“They do something they want to do,” she said. “Its a good way to get students involved.”
Club members voted to tackle ocean acidification - ocean chemistry changes from increased carbon
dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere. These changes reconfigure the oceans ecological balance.
While some shell-building animals and other organisms respond negatively to the altered conditions,
other species tolerate or even thrive in them.
(Continued on page 3)
Tlie Pine Knoll Shores Radio Station broadcasts 24 hours a day
with weather and emergency Info.
EMERGENCY-GALL 911
ECC 726-1911 • PUBUC SAFETY 247-2474
Water Department to Get
Automatic Meter Readers
Byjohn Brodman
Overview of Your
Water Department
After years of contentious
negotiation, Pine Knoll
Shores purchased the
towns water company from
Carolina Water in 2005 for
$3.75 million, which was
the assessed market value
of the system at that time.
The purchase was financed
by a loan from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
Prior to the purchase,
Carolina Water had a virtual monopoly on water delivery
and was providing mediocre service at a relatively high price.
Drilling and maintaining your own well was the only alternative
open to residents, and the town felt it could deliver better water
service for less money. From 2005 to 2008, Pine Knoll Shores
owned the company, but Carolina Water managed it on a daily
basis for a fee, doing all the routine repairs, maintenance,
meter reading and billing. In 2008, Pine Knoll Shores took
over full-time management of the water enterprise, hired its
own certified, full-time water operations manager (Sonny
Cunningham) and began to do its own meter reading and
billing. Around the same time, the town also hired Cavanaugh
and Associates, an engineering firm, to do a complete audit
of the water system and develop maintenance schedules and a
long-term water enterprise capital improvement plan.
Infrastructure
The towns water company (WC) now owns four wells and
well houses, two water towers and about 29 miles of distribution
(Continued on page 4)
THE
Standard
Pre-Sort
Permit #35
Atlantic Beach, NC 28512