Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / Jan. 24, 1957, edition 1 / Page 8
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7 Towns' Water Situations Told ? Continued From Fife One clerk, says Sylva wanted a filtei plant for three reasons: 1. There were not" enough stor age facilities for water. (Sylva'i new filter plant has a 1,375,000 gallon settling basin: until thii was added, the town had but on< resevoir, a 375-000-gallon tanl -within the corporate limits.) 2. The watershed lies high a foove the town and Incoming watei had pressures so high that main: frequently burst and faucets often leaked: when the filter plant was added, pressure reducing valve; were Installed to bring the press Hire down to a desirable level. 8. The town wanted to use meters, but couldn't because un filtered water from the watershed contained foreign matter which would cause meters not" to operate So, Sylva put' a filter plant on the watershed. "Right now, our system is a dream," says Mr. Nicholson. The town has $20,000 annual revenue from water and expenses are $9,419. For the first 3,499 gallons of wafer, a Sylva con sumer pays 11.25. There are no tfep fees for getting onto the town water main. Daring the most acute short age In this region, the town always has had at least a mill Ion gallons In reserve, says Mr. ?lta XI IVUVlOVIIa The Mead Corporation, big in dustrial concern at Sylva, does not use town water in its In dustrial process. Rather, it taps Scott's Creek which runs through the town and by Mead's front ?door. Nevertheless, Mead is the town's biggest water user, running any where from a million to a million and a half gallons a month. This is used In washrooms, drinking fountains, and the like. Mr. Nicholson says of Sylva's soft water: "You can lather any thing in It." He regards It as folly ? regard less of where the water comes from and how clean it is re futed to be ? not to put a mini mum amount of chlorine in It. "It's good health and I guaran tee you, you can't taste it. We've got the best water in the world." VShen Sylva built its filter plant, equipment for putting fluoride into the water was in stalled but has not been used. Fluoride Is the controversial chemical which most health au thorities agree retards tooth de cay. Sylva has customers outside the town limits on its water mains but recently declared that no new out-of-town customers would be taken. Mr. Nicholson says Sylva's water system, without any expansion, ?an accommodate a big, new indus try. "In fact, we thing we've sot -one coming," he pridefully relates DILLSBOBO Until 10 years ago, Dillsboro ?.used a watershed. It was a long "way to go for water ? from Dills 1x>ro to Cowee Mountain ? but the citizens wanted a watershed and voted a bond Issue for It. By the r end of World War n, the shed proved inadequate. No land was available for ex s pansfon. So. the town got into - the well business. It has two, but i uses only one during the winter, s The water is chlorinated. It is i hard water. DUlsboro has no meters and . charges a flat $1 (a month) for a ? residence. Claude Queen, who ; works for the power company in i Dillsboro but handles the water ! system for the town ? free of i charge ? speaks wistfully of the ? watershed. "You can't beat gravity flow." . BRYSON CITY Bryson City has meters but I can't use them. Their water is i too dirty. The delicate mechan . ism of the meter is fouled by the foreign particles in Bryson's water. The town gets water from three different places: two watersheds and a well. There is a second well, : but a cave-in some time afro took it out of commission and it has been plugged. The town owns 200 acres on Jenkins Branch and some 1,000 acres on Lands Creek. The Lands Creek watershed was added during the 1930's to the Jenkins Branch shed and the well that then were serving the town. The water is chlorinated as it comes from lands Creek, but not filtered. That's where for eign matter slips into the main, dirtying the water. 'Tve had guests come and ask me if the water is O. K. for drink ing," the manager of the High lander Tourist Court, of Bryson City, sayt>. "We need to do some thing about our water situation." An official at the Van Raalte hosiery plant there said his com pany found the water supply ample. He did not mention the dirtiness of the water. He did say that no water is required in the plant's industrial processs. Bryson's water tastes good. It is soft and lathers easily. Lands Creek watershed lies near ly five miles from town. It is fenced but not patrolled. Town Clerk Jack Welch says the only trouble the town ever has is keep ing hunters off the property. A similar statement was made by officials in other towns with water sheds. Revenue from the Water de partment is $22,000 a year, while expenses are $2,500. There Is a flat rate of $1.50 a month Tor a residence with five spigots and 23 cents extra for each spigot over five. Mr. Welch suggests that towns I have an ordinance prohibiting residences from tapping onto each other's lines. Each residence should tap directly onto the main, he says. Where a residence extend0, onto a neighbor's line, there is not enough water, Mr. Welch says. "Yet, many people will do it, just to save a few feet of pipe." ?| A town of 1,500 people, Bryson ? City is situated on the Tucka For Purpose Of Comparison, Here Are Franklin Water Facts For purposes of comparing ?Franklin with its neighbor towns, here are some facts about the Franklin water system: The town's water rate is $1.50 for the first 1,000 gallons, five cents a hundred for the next 5,000 gallons, and four cents a hundred for the next four thous and. Business rates are the same ?s residential. There is a tap fee of $25 here, regardless of the size of the tap. Until last July, there was no fee. | Water rates were Increased at the time the fee went into effect. Franklin has five wells and is digging a sixth. Its water is not filtered and not chlorinated. Estimated income from water and sewage fees this fiscal year is $36,000. For the first six months of the fiscal year, expenses have been $8,427. Tint does not include capital expenditures. Interest on bonds, also not included in the expense figure above, will be $4,310 for the entire year. There are 25 or 30 water cus tomers outside the town limits, in cluding Franklin Hosiery Com pany, the system's largest user. See how little it cost* to own a Golden Rocket SSI ' You'd never believe a car so big cou I H coH to little! let Olds for '57 put the accent on you? with beauti ful low-level styling ; ?ofe, sure Wide Stance ride ond exciting Rocket T-400 power. Drive It? price HI fte our guest for a Rot'* test' Do It *>onf - COME IN! YOU'RE ALWAYS WELCOME AT - BUBRKLL MOTOR CO., Inc. HMl FnuridJo, If. C. selgee River. However. It draws none of It* supply from there. HATBSVILU Hayesville figures it's In good shape, as far as supply Is con cerned. What It needs Is a new pumping system. Water Works Superintendent C. Earle Stand ridge says the system has to oper ate 11 or 11 hours a day. The town is supplied by two springs. Nevertheless. Mr. Stand ridge would like to see a well sunk ? "as insurance against an extra dry summer". Hayearille's is soft water. It is chlorinated. It is not filter ed. Income from the water sys tem Is $4,500 a year. Rates are $1.50 for the first 3,000 gallons inside the town, and $2 for those outside. It is 50 cents a thousand for all over that amount. The operator of a Hayesville tourist court says he has had sev eral compliments on the town's water. Mrs. Christine Prater, mayor, says, "There is no better water anywhere." MURPHY Murphy had an argument over watershed vs. "river supply. An Atlanta engineering firm was hired to survey the water situ ation there. The firm's report suggested that Murphy build a new filter plant on the Hlawassee River? the town .already had an outmoded plant there. Use the river water, the 'engineers advised, to make up the I difference between what the town's watershed provides and what the town needs. There was a vote on a bond issue of $190,000 last year, with the money earmarked for a filter plant. The voters approved it. Two of Murphy's leading citi zens fought hard for the water shed. One of those two still thinks he's right. Lon Davis, operator of a wo man's ready-to-wear shop, is con vinced that an adequate water shed is available for Murphy, de spite the fact that the engineers say there isn't. W. S. Dickey. Esso oil distri butor and the town's fire chief, gave up on the watershed idea when the engineers said it could n't be done. Murphy, a town of 2,500 popu lation, was getting two-thirds of its water from the town-owned watershed on Marble Creek, with one-third coming from the river. The old river filter plant was in such bad shape that six or seven parts chlorine were added to insure the safety of the water for drinking. (Usual rate is foul er five parts per million parts of water, although it can be as little as 0.3 ppm or as high as 1.0 ppm.) The Marble Creek watershed is 400 acres of fenced-in, unpatrolled land, several miles from town. Until recently, the water from it wast not filtered and quite a bit of foreign matter ran into the water mains. "The State Board of Health told us to start filtering the water from our watershed or close it up," says Town Clerk C. E. John son. "We have started filtering it" Water from the shed is soft while that from the river is so hard that soda ash is put into it to give some of the qualities of naturally soft water. With its bond money. Murphy is getting a new filter plant which will double the capacity of its present setup. Whereas, the old water ratio was one-third from the river and two-thirds from the shed, Mr. Johnson expects that situ ation to be reversed, once the new plant goes into operation. Murphy's modern water system will take care of its needs for at least the next 30 years, the engi neers estimate'. Mr. Johnson is hoping to have fluoiide equipment installed at the plant and then talk the town board into putting the chemical into the water. When complete, Murphy' j vater reservoirs will look like this: old filter settling basin, 85,000 gallon ? new filter basin, 500,000 gallons; watershed dam, 1.800,000 gallons. Tlie watershed will serve as a fire reserve, according to Mr. Johnson. The engineers considered en larging the watershed in Murphy but ruled i* out because the avail able land would not provide enough water to- meet the town's needs for the next, 30 years. There are some 780 customers for Murphy's water services. Water income is $26,000 a year. Expenses are $19,000. Mr. Johnson is proud that he has put the town water syftem on a paying basis. He got the water rates raised two years ago from what, he considered to be a ridiculously low figure. Now, a residential user pays $2 for the first 2,000 gallons and commer cial customers pay $2.50. Next in line for a raise, says the clerk, are water tap fees. Presently, Murphy charges $12. 50 for a half-inch tap, $15 for a three-quarter, and $20 for a one inch. Mr. Johnson thinks these should be in the neigh borhood of $50, $75, and $100. When asked if he had any ad vice for Franklin, as It under took to expand Its water supply, Mr. Johnson said, yes, he had. "Get In touch with an engi neering firm that has had a lot of experience with small town watei works. Oet them to make Moss At University For Church Meeting The Rev. 8. B. Most, pastor of Franklin Methodist Church, was at Emory University last week for the annual Methodist ministers' convocation. The meeting lasted Monday through Thursday. Mrs. Moss and the children vis ited Mrs. Robert Walters, In Black Mountain. Mr. Walters is pastor of the Methodist Church in Black Mountain and attended the Emory meeting with Mr. Moss. your survey. Then, be sure that their report gets wide publicity. "Another thing I would suggest is that you get the State Board of Health's engineer, Mr. Blalsdell, to come to your town. Have a public meeting and let him an swer questions. That way, every body's happy; well, nearly every body." Among the people unhappy a bout the filter plant on the Hl awassee ? ojd or new filter plant ? were those who objected to clean ing up the sewage Hayesville dumps in the river up the way and then using the water in the town system. ANDREWS Andrews is a town proud of its water supply. Since 1908. the ' tewn has had a municipally-own ed watershed. The shed lies only one mile outside the town limits, ' and Is 600 acres in size. It is fenced. It is not patrolled. Claude Angel, superintendent of water works, says Andrews has oil f hn Tiro f Of if nHII of lno rf I for the next several decades. S. J. Gernert, manager of Berk- ' shire Mills, a plant outside of ' Andrews and a customer for the ? town's water, says when his firm 1 considered Andrews it had an a nalysis made of the town's water. The study was made by a New England laboratory. Berkshire officials were told by the laboratory that Andrews had the second most perfect water it had ever tested. Andrews' population is slightly under 1,500 and the revenue from water service is $16,000. The town , has no figure for what water ex penses are, but, Mrs. Zora R. Bryson, the town clerk, says in come far exceeds outgo in rev enues. Three motor court operators in terviewed by The Press at An drews all agreed that the water is abundant and of good quality. Service station people say they have had no summer shortages. Rates for water at Andrews are $2 (or the first 3,000 gallons. There are tome 50 customer* Out side the town. They pay a flat $2.76 (ee. Berkshire Mills uses 113,000 gal lons a month, not a large amount. Its Industrial process does not Involve water. BOBBINS VILLE "We're unlimited in our water supply," says J. B. Cory, town engineer, (or Robblnsvllle. "When we need more, we just add another creek to our water shed." Rock and Bergen Creeks now are used by Robbinsv tile's water shed. Mr. Cory says another creek will hare to be added within the year. A huge carpet manufacturing concern is moving to Robblnsvllle and will use quantities o( water, according to the englneei. The watershed is lour nlles (rom town. It is on Forest Service land. (Robblnsvllle Is the- only one o( the towns surveyed whose- shed Is wholly on leased land; one of Highlands' two sheds is on fed eral acreage.) That four miles of Robblnsvllle pipe was laid by W. P. A. labor in the '30's, says Mr. Cory, and at a cost to the town of only 35 cents on the dollar. Though watersheds are thought of in terms of gravity flow ? that Is, no pumping required ? Robblns vllle does use pumps. There is not enough pressure to push the water to high points around town, the engineer says, so pumps must be used. While RobbinsviUe thinks of itsself as unlimited in water sup ply, nevertheless, it has had water shortages the past several sum mers. "We should have brought in another creek long ago," in the opinion of Mr. Cory. "But now at last, we're going to get around to it." The town has no meters. There is a flat rate of $2 in the town for a house with three faucets. Robbinsville's popula tion is about 600. "We have soft water here. We have good water. There's nothing like mountain water and visitors often tell us that," says Mr. Cory, a retired Nantahala Power and Light Company employe who in his retirement still does the engi neering work for the town. (NEXT WEEK: Highlands, Macon County's other town, has Its own peculiar problems. The Highlands situation will be de scribed in the third article of this series, to appear in The Press next week.) Local Soldier Participates In Germany Game Pfc. Ray DeHart recently par ticipated with the 11th Airborne Division In "War Hawk", a Held training exercise in Germany ac cording to the Army Home Town News Center. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred DeHart, of Franklin. The 20-year-old soldier Is a rifle man In the division's 188th In fantry Regiment and has been in the army since June. 1954. He re ceived hi* bade training at Fort Brae*. Prior to entering aerrloe be attended Franklin High School. Brady Is Speaker At H enderson ville Jaycee Banquet J. P. Brady, of Franklin, was guest speaker Monday night at the Henderaonvllle Jaycees' an nual ladles' night and officer In stallation banquet.. The Henderaonvllle club also presented Its distinguished serv ice award that evening. Mr. Brady Is immediate past state vice-president of District I of the Jaycees. The Only Fertilizer Produced In Western N. C. BLUE RIDGE PLANT FOOD Manufactured by Smoky Mountains Fertilizer Co. Waynes ville, N. C. Mr. Farmer: For your early side-dressing we can furnish you with the following Fertilizer: 0- 9-27 Plain or with Borax 2-12-12 Plain or with Borax 0-14-14 Plain or with Borax 20% Phosphate. We can also furnish you with any other grades of Fertilizer. See Us for Special Orders We will fill your A.S.C. orders on Seeds, Fertilizer and Lime. BROWN & CARSON Phone 297 Franklin, N. C New Deep-Offset Rear Axle^ N#w Supar Strong Bod; N?w Comfort Contoured Seats New ible-Wal / the decisive factors in the 57 OmmOP l??[R?] I / New Qlant-Qrip Brakes A N New Electronically Balanced V-8 Engines New Swept-Back Ball-Joint Suspension * They show you why the new kind of Ford is worth more when you buy it, worth more when you sell it) The secret of Ford's nationwide success is this: it's a new kind of Ford . . . new from the wheels up . . . more than a last year's model with a few "face lift" changes. In a Ford the chassis, engine and body are individually engineered into one spacious rock-solid unit. If you're a cartful car-buyer with whom features count, count the new features of the '57 Ford. Then drive it! There's only one conclusion: the liv eliest car in the low price field is the completely new Ford, for the decisive facts see your Ford Dealer. ? "*m*. -w This Custom 300 Fordor Sedan has the Mark of Tomorrow at the low Ford price f See and Action Test the new kind of FORD Conley Motor Company, inc. Phone fil Dealer 830 Franklin, N. C.
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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Jan. 24, 1957, edition 1
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