TownTalk: City of Henderson Water Rate Study
The City of Henderson passed a vote to conduct a water rate study.
(Our WIZS written coverage will appear here soon.)
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Tag Archive for: #water
TownTalk: Vance County Water District Offers Debt Forgiveness Program For Eligible Customers
The Vance County Water District has a forgiveness program in place in an effort to help residents with outstanding balances erase that debt and tap on to the water line.
Enterprise Fund and Special Projects Director Frankie Nobles said the water bill forgiveness program will erase 75 percent of the customer’s outstanding balance.
“We’re trying to help some customers that want water but they haven’t paid their $30 a month fees like they should have,” Nobles said.
These customers started the process to tap into the water line once it was available, and that’s when they began receiving that monthly $30 accessibility fee.
For whatever reason, there are customers who didn’t complete the process to tap into the water line, but they kept accumulating the monthly accessibility fee.
Now – several years later, in some cases – customers find themselves with outstanding balances.
Nobles said customers who are interested in completing the process to tap into the county water line can pay 25 percent of what they owe and they’ll be connected.
The offer will be in effect through March 2027.
The county also has slashed the normal $1,795 tap fee down to $125, which will remain in place until the current water expansion project in Kittrell is completed. Nobles said should be in mid-September 2026.
The Kittrell expansion is the fifth phase the county has undertaken to try to get more water throughout the county. Nobles said more than 23.6 miles of water line is involved. A final total won’t be available until the project is completed, he added, but the price tag is more than $10 million.
“We’re getting there,” he said. “It just takes a while to get it done because of the cost.”
Nobles said the county initially loses money, but added that as more customers come on line, the county can make that money back. “That’s what we’re trying to do, add customers to our system and that really helps cover all of our costs.”
He gets calls each week from residents who have problems with their wells and ask about county access to provide clean drinking water.
“We want to be able to help the citizens in the community that do want water and (who) are having issues with their well,” he said. “We want to help as much as we can.”
The county contracts with Envirolink to handle repairs, leaks, and meter installation. Contact Envirolink at 252.235.4900 or toll-free at 888.754.9878 to learn more. The email is customerservice@envirolinkinc.com
Nobles said he also is available to try to help answer residents’ questions. Contact him at 252.738.2005.
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(The above audio and text originated on WIZS May 20, 2026.)
TownTalk: Franklin County Sends Letter To KLRWS For Terms To Be Met
In a letter to the owners of the Kerr Lake Regional Water System dated May 21, Franklin County Manager Ryan Preble posed a couple of possible solutions to his county’s need for more water.
The six-page letter recounted efforts undertaken by Franklin County over the past almost 20 years to find a way to bring more water to an area experiencing explosive growth, seemingly with no end in sight.
Preble sent the letter to City Manager Paylor Spruill, Warren County Manager Crystal Smith and Oxford City Manager Brent Taylor – Henderson is a 60 percent owner of the KLRWS and Warren County and the City of Oxford each have a 20 percent share in ownership.
In March, Franklin County asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for its own allocation of water from Kerr Lake – 16.7 million gallons a day. That request will be considered but no answer is expected for more than a year.
The regional water system is undergoing an expansion that will increase capacity to 20 million gallons per day, but Preble’s letter states that it would be too costly and impractical for Franklin County to pay as a customer.
In his conclusion, Preble offers the three water system owners “options” and gives the three entities 30 days to accept the terms.
Here’s an excerpt from the letter:
“Franklin has been in discussions within the region about short-term and long-term water supply for at least 19 years (since 2007). Henderson supplies Franklin with an additional 450,000 GPD but that is all Henderson is willing to do given the size of its water distribution infrastructure. Franklin respects that. Short-term, Franklin cannot pay $35 million for 2.5 MGD when there are other potential sellers at a lower cost. Franklin is open to regional discussions, but KLRWS must either agree to sell at an agreed-upon fair market value of a 51% stake in KLRWS or sell a lower percentage interest but give Franklin the right to expand at its cost to develop additional capacity that belongs to Franklin (the Basic Terms). If either of these options are amenable, we would like to discuss terms to move this forward. Any business formation issues (create an authority or a joint venture) are irrelevant unless Franklin is going to solve its supply challenge with a regional solution.
Please indicate your willingness to accept the Basic Terms within thirty (30) days of the date of this letter, by June 21, 2026. If you would like to setup (sic) a meeting after accepting the Basic Terms, please let me know.”
Find the full text of the letter here https://www.franklincountync.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2089/Letter-from-County-Manager-Ryan-Preble-on-Regional-Water-Discussions—May-21-2026-PDF
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TownTalk: How Franklin County Gets Water from Kerr Lake and the Kerr Lake Regional Water System Future
Can the Kerr Lake Regional Water System grow and continue to be the biggest player for local and regional water needs?
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TownTalk: Kerr Lake RWS Plant Getting Upgrades
Henderson Assistant City Manager Christy Lipscomb’s report to the City Council about progress being made at the regional water treatment facility included information about subterranean placement of valve and piping, installation of new equipment to create dry sludge and dynamite.
Yep, they’ve been blowing up stuff out there.
“We had to use some dynamite in some areas,” Lipscomb said. There’s a lot of rock underneath the soil here in Vance County, and it’s not soft rock. It’s granite.
There were three different “events” to blast the rock so the underground work could continue.
“It was kinda cool to see,” Lipscomb said, explaining to the council that it wasn’t a big explosion at all.
They put the chargers in “and everything went ‘poof’ and that was it.”
There’s still a massive pile of dirt and granite as a result, but it all was necessary for the upgrades to continue.
A tentative completion date is October, and so far, the project is right on track.
Council members referred to a packet of information to see images of the construction project, which includes a building addition that doubles the length of the existing building.
When complete, the new building will provide new restrooms, locker rooms and a conference room.
“That was one of the big deals, one of the things we absolutely wanted,” Lipscomb said of the conference room. It will be used to host classes and continuing education training for employees.
There is some new equipment that employees will need to get training in, including a couple o chemical pumps that have been installed.
Each holds 10 million gallons and is part of a “super pulsator” process. It’s not a complicated process, she said, but it will create a more efficient process that keeps the sludge from settling to the bottom of the tank.
There’s a new rollup door that will make it easier to remove pumps when they need maintenance and facilitate brining in equipment.
There are two new clear wells in place to help the aging well that was installed in 1974.
That one will stay on line along with the other two until a future upgrade to replace its sagging concrete top can begin.
“There’s a lot of concrete and a lot of piping,” Lipscomb said.
The new sludge handling facility is about halfway completed, but when it’s all on line, the treatment facility will be able to dry the sludge and either haul it off – the local landfill doesn’t accept it – or “land apply” it.
Land application is the more cost-effective approach since the closest facility that accepts the material is in Person County.
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TownTalk: City’s Water Customers Asked What Their Service Lines Are Made Of
Water customers of the City of Henderson received notices recently requesting assistance in identifying the material that their service line – the line that comes from the water main and brings water to the residence, dwelling or business – is made of.
The notice is not, city officials have said, a statement about contaminated water; rather, it is fulfilling a requirement of the Environmental Protection Agency to notify customers of risks associated with pipes made of lead or copper.
The notices read in part, “Our records indicate that part or all of the water pipe material (called a service line) connecting your property to the main is made from UNKNOWN MATERIAL.”
Customers can help by adding information to the city’s records to compile a complete inventory of the service lines.
To help determine the material of your service line, contact leadandcopper@henderson.nc.gov.
“It has come to the City’s attention that someone posted a picture of a letter that is going out to citizens next week for Lead and Copper,” city officials stated on the city of Henderson’s Facebook page in response to information that had appeared elsewhere on social media posts.
“Included in this post was a notice that the City’s water is contaminated. We assure you that is not the case. The City’s water is safe to drink. The Lead and Copper letter…is mandated by the State to be sent out every year. It is the same letter as last year.”
According to the notice that water customers received, they’ll continue to get the annual notice until the service line material is identified
For that reason, the city is asking water customers to help complete the inventory of service line and to share the information about the health effects of lead in the environment.
The notice also includes some basic steps individuals can take to reduce lead in drinking water, from cleaning faucet aerators regularly to using water filters specifically designed to remove lead from drinking water.
EPA has developed an online step-by-step guide to help people identify lead pipes in their homes called Protect Your Tap: A Quick Check for Lead.
This guide is available at www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/protectr-your-tap-quick-check-lead.
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TownTalk: Follow-Up On Report Of Elevated Lead Levels In Two County Locations
At a work session last week, one of the items that Vance County commissioners discussed was a notice from the state’s division of water quality about two instances of excessive lead levels in county drinking water.
Although the source has not been determined to date, the county’s Special Projects Manager Frankie Nobles told the commissioners during that work session on Nov. 20 that proper notification about the lead levels is one point that the county must address by Wednesday, Nov. 29.
In addition to publishing and posting flyers, Nobles said additional information would be sent out in upcoming bills.
The county buys its water from the city, and Kerr Lake Regional Water System director Christy Lipscomb told WIZS News Monday by phone that she was unaware of the notice received by county staff.
Lipscomb said regulations state that water systems must perform 60 point of testing every three years to check lead and copper levels. And KLRWS is on what Lipscomb called a “diminished schedule” of only 30 tests every three years because there are so few problems with elevated levels.
The most recent testing took place in August, Lipscomb said. The result? Zero “hits,” or problems.
The two locations – one on Warrenton Road and one on Vicksboro Road – showed twice the allowable levels of lead at .030 MG/L. The threshold is .015 MG/L.
“The local health department regularly tests for child lead exposure in our child health clinics (it’s a simple blood test),” said Granville Vance Public Health Director Lisa Harrison. “If any levels are elevated, we have a team of one environmental health specialist together with one nurse who go together into the home to do further environmental testing,” Harrison told WIZS News in an email Monday.
Child health appointments can be made by calling the health department for those who wish to have their children tested. This can also be done easily at a local doctor’s office or pediatrician’s office. The GVPH team is notified regardless if there are concerns for any child tested for lead exposure, Harrison explained.
To learn more, visit https://www.gvph.org/services/environmental-health-services/childrens-environmental-health/
The source of the lead most likely is not from the water supply itself, but from pipes or other sources at the two individual locations. No details about the two addresses were shared at the work session.
Commissioner Dan Brummitt noted during the work session that the water system specs provided for construction without use of materials that contain lead, including the use of solder.
Water doesn’t naturally contain lead, but water can be contaminated with lead through lead pipes and other infrastructure used to bring water to individual households. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most common sources of lead in drinking water are lead pipes, faucets and plumbing fixtures. Certain pipes that carry drinking water from the water source to the home may contain lead. Household plumbing fixtures, welding solder, and pipe fittings made before 1986 may also contain lead.
Find more information at https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/prevention/sources/water.htm
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TownTalk: Garrison Seeks 4th Term, Discusses Water, Sewer Projects In District 32
Several towns in the area have recently received state and federal funding to make improvements to water and wastewater services, and N.C. Rep. Terry Garrison said it was important to him to make sure projects in his district were on the state’s “radar” to get that much-needed money.
Garrison is seeking his fourth term as a legislator representing District 32, which includes Vance, Warren and most of Granville counties. He faces challenger Frank Sossamon in the November midterm elections.
Although the General Assembly is in recess right now, Garrison told John C. Rose Tuesday that it’s less of a vacation and more of a quasi-adjournment. Legislators regularly are called back into session, not necessarily to take votes, but to hear information and discuss issues. In fact, they were called back last week. “We can pretty much expect to go back each month through December to address matters,” Garrison said.
When legislators are called back into session, you need to be ready, he said. “You never know what may occur in your absence.”
Garrison, along with colleagues, was able to secure millions of dollars in funding to help several municipalities in the district with water and water treatment projects. The city of Henderson has gotten more than $10 million from a couple of different funding streams, the legislator explained.
One $5 million allotment is for the Kerr Lake Regional Water System and a second $5.4 million comes from the American Rescue Plan and was awarded through the state’s Department of Environmental Quality.
The ARP appropriation was dedicated to address drinking water and wastewater projects, he said. “Our situation was severe enough to qualify us to receive the money,” Garrison noted.
“I yelled as loud as I could to make sure persons were aware of our critical needs,” he continued.
During the most recent long session, as it’s called, legislators made history, Garrison said. “The last session was the longest in the history” of the General Assembly. It convened in January 2021 and didn’t adjourn until March 2022. “It was extensive and it was intense,” Garrison recalled.
Then the “short session” began in May. Although the bulk of the work of the state House and Senate has been done, there are matters that are lingering, he said. “We’ll just have to see how it goes – we’re on standby.”
He said he’s hopeful about the possibility of Medicaid expansion, which had been a sticking point in getting the most recent state budget passed. “It does appear that we’re back on track to get something on Medicaid expansion,” he said, adding that the fate of the issue most likely will be determined by the November elections.
Garrison said he voted for the budget, despite its shortcomings. “We absolutely needed to have a budget,” he said.
Before heading off to Raleigh to represent House District 32, Garrison had been dean of workforce development at Vance-Granville Community College. His realty firm, Tegarris Associates has been in business for more than 40 years. Much of that time, Garrison served as a Vance County commissioner.
“I stand for democratic principles and values, and I stand for you,” he said. In addition to being a proponent of Medicaid expansion, Garrison said education, jobs that pay a liveable wage, the expansion of rural broadband internet access are other top-of-mind issues for him.
Adequate and appropriate funding for schools, teachers and for community colleges are vital to the state’s education system. And although he acknowledges that charter schools and private schools both have a place in the education system, he does not favor using public funds to pay for families to send their children to private schools.
He is an advocate for affordable housing, as well as services for veterans the elderly. In addition, he supports community development – and redevelopment efforts.
“I will always play the game fair,” he said.
Subscribe to Garrison’s monthly newsletter to stay on top of legislative updates. Email terry.garrison@ncleg.gov to learn more. And he said constituents are always welcome to phone his office at 919.733.5824.
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