By ELENA MARSH
Staff Writer
The Moore County Board of Commissioners is still exploring the feasibility of a few future water sources. The current preferred option, a reservoir at Crystal Lake, would provide an asset the county owns outright, but it is not without its challenges.
At a work session on Wednesday, commissioners asked State Sen. Tom McInnis, whose district includes Moore County, to seek the state’s help on repairing the Crystal Lake dam and Camp Easter Road atop it, both of which were heavily damaged by flooding last July.
“This time last year we were talking heavily about partnering with Southern Pines on the future water source,” said County Manager Wayne Vest. “Because we’re now looking at Crystal Lake, I want to make sure that everybody knows that we haven’t eliminated Southern Pines.
“They’re still an option, but we’re looking at this option to explore because one of the concerns the board had even before we started working with Southern Pines is ownership and long-term control of water.”
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Located off U.S. 1 west of Vass, Crystal Lake is nearly 60 acres and has about 20 square miles of drainage that is mostly fed by Mill Creek and McDeeds Creek. The dam that holds Crystal Lake was built in 1902 and holds between 80 and 100 million gallons of water.
According to a study by LKC Engineering of Southern Pines, it details a two-phase plan totaling more than $175 million.
The first phase, costing $75 million, would take about five years to complete and supply an extra 2 million gallons of water per day after the lake is dredged and the dam is repaired.
A second phase, costing about $100 million, would expand the output from 2 million gallons to 5.5 million by adding a water intake and pump station on Little River near the Moore and Harnett county line. There is no estimate for the timeline of that aspect.
The dam and roadway were damaged last July during heavy flooding that occurred when the remains of Tropical Storm Chantal moved quickly through southern Moore County. The overtopping of water did not breach the dam but caused significant damage. Because of this, Camp Easter Road has also remained closed. According to estimates from state transportation officials, the road used to serve more than 2,000 vehicles a day.
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The county itself cannot use taxpayer funds to fix the dam, nor can it repair the road. Because of this, the group of property owners that own the lake, Crystal Lake Support Inc., have been seeking funding from FEMA to make the necessary repairs. The state Department of Transportation will not come in to fix the road until the dam has been repaired.
“ We want to be conscious of our contingency funds, but we do have the ability to tap them in cases like this,” said McInnis. “But again, we want to make sure we’re not throwing good money away, waiting for better money to come. Each division has a certain amount of contingency money, but I don’t know if we can tap that in this case.”
The Crystal Lake reservoir alternative was not originally considered during the first round of long-term water supply studies because there is not sufficient yield directly from Mill Creek or Little River to satisfy the county’s long-term needs without significant off-stream storage. Obtaining ownership or control of a large body of water like Crystal Lake was not considered feasible. However, now Crystal Lake and its surrounding property owners have signaled their support for the plan, making it more feasible. County Commissioners Vice Chairman Jim Von Canon is one of those property owners, and he recused himself from the issue.
The next step to make sure that Crystal Lake is the preferred alternative will be a 10 percent design on the first phase of the project. That design would look in detail at the hydrology, locations of the water plant, piping costs and pumping costs. The county is currently seeking designers for this project.
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“We’re planning to select a firm to help us with that 10 percent design document,” said Public Works Director Brian Patnode. “The timeframe is in the next six months to get a detailed report on this Crystal Lake alternative and determine the feasibility of the initial 2 million gallon water treatment plant.”
McInnis asked the county why they would split the Crystal Lake alternative into phases instead of building out the entire $175 million project at once. He cited how costs continue to rise for infrastructure and that in a few years, it may end up costing more than the estimated price of this year.
“ If we’re building this thing, we’re not going to go down in water demand,” he said, addressing Commissioners Chairman Nick Picerno. “We’re going to go up in water demand.
“It might behoove us to look, if we build all that for $175 million today, what it’s going to cost 10 years from now when we decide that we need 7½ million gallons per day versus 5½. I’m not throwing any cold water on anything you’re doing. I’m just saying, let’s look beyond us.”
Picerno, heeding McInnis’s advice, reminded the senator that there are still other projects on the table that might prove to be the better option. “ I think that 10 percent study will give us some of the answers to that. We don’t commit to anything if: number one, we can’t afford it; number two, if it doesn’t prove to be reliable; number three, we’ve got a partner in Southern Pines that we really will work with, and I think will make a great partner.
“We just want to make sure to do the best solution,” Picerno added.
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The county and the town of Southern Pines have spoken previously about a partnership that, at $117 million, entails the county entering into a new relationship with Southern Pines to build a water intake farther downstream of the existing Southern Pines intake in the town’s reservoir.
That plan currently exists in two phases. The first would take about six years to complete, according to an LKC Engineering report, and cost approximately $39 million. It would provide 3 million gallons per day to the county.
The second phase would cost approximately $78 million. The projected future water supply needs indicate the second phase would need to be completed by approximately 2034, but the schedule could vary based on actual growth rates.
The town and county have to agree on capital projects, operation and bulk purchase rates.
Moore County and Southern Pines signed an existing bulk purchase contract in June 2023. That contract allows for a 1 million gallons per day capacity and has a five-year term expiring in 2028.
The need for a future water source, while necessary, is not immediate. Based on growth projections in a study from last year, the county could experience a gap between supply and demand as soon as 2029. If nothing is done, and with the knowledge that the town of Aberdeen won’t renew its existing contract to sell water to the county, the gap would grow to almost 6 million gallons a day by 2052.
Patnode updated the board on the current state of the water supply in the county. After reviewing usage from 2025 between Pinehurst, Seven Lakes and the East Moore water district, usage was 3.7 million gallons a day, with the max day around 5.2 million gallons in July.
“We do have available supply,” said Patnode. “We currently have about 7 million gallons a day. There are some variables involved with contracts from Aberdeen and Southern Pines, but those are things that we’ll work on this year going into the future. So we do have water, and we’re not expecting to run out anytime soon.”
Contact Elena Marsh at (910) 693-2484 or elena@thepilot.com.
