WRWA seeks advice
By Stephen S. Glass
Star Staff
Members of the Watauga Regional Water Authority
sought advice Monday night from the chairman of the Dickson
County Water Authority, Elmo Lunn. Lunn is also the former
head of the state's Division of Water Control.
Lunn had high praise for the newly formed panel,
saying they had so far avoided many of the mistakes he and
his cohorts in Middle Tennessee made early on in the adoption
of their program.
Lunn said that having representatives from each
of the county's utility districts on the water authority board
was an important organizational step, but one that he and
authority members in Dickson County missed in the beginning.
"At least you've already got everybody at the
table," said Lunn. "That puts you seven to eight years ahead
of where we started."
Lunn said that when the Dickson County Water
Authority was first formed, the board was comprised of local
businessmen, bankers, lawyers and politicians but did not
include local utility owners or representatives.
"You definitely need good financial, legal and
political advice," said Lunn. "But there were some important
questions about moving and selling water we just didn't have
the answers to because we weren't talking to the right people."
Lunn advised authority members to establish a
"funding mechanism" as soon as possible.
"The most beneficial thing we did was to get
funding mechanisms in place so we could have the money we
needed to do feasibility studies. Everything accelerated after
that."
In Dickson County, each participating utility
district now levies a surcharge of 50 cents per 1000 gallons
of water to help fund the building project. The DCWA also
has water purchase agreements with those utilities and has
begun selling bonds to fund the project.
While the recently formed WRWA has yet to discuss
long-term funding, members have been searching for grants
and have reason to hope that federal money will be appropriated
for the project.
Lunn also advised members to be attentive to
areas of future growth in the region when planning the project.
"If you're not thinking about 20 and 30 years
down the road, your customers will be the ones to pay for
it," said Lunn.
