To the editor:

The Sept. 5 article “Boone looks to Todd for more water” contained several errors that need to be clarified.

First, Boone has two existing current water intakes, not three. The Town has been responsibly withdrawing water from the New River for several years and has also been sending that water through an advanced water treatment facility before putting it back into the New River. The facility also treats Appalachian State University’s wastewater, and puts more than 99 percent of the water withdrawn back into the New River, following strict governmental regulations.

Secondly, the water flow numbers that were presented in both a PowerPoint presentation and a handout were from an Aug. 15, 2008 article in the Watauga Democrat, not the Town of Boone’s numbers, as reported. The numbers were converted from cubic feet per second (cfs) to gallons per day, since our permit requests a maximum of 4 million gallons of water per day. Initially, we plan to withdraw 1.5 million gallons per day.

In addition, the Blowing Rock interconnection has not been constructed, yet. Once it is, Blowing Rock will be able to get water from Boone during emergency water shortages.

While we appreciate the positive comments about Boone’s water conservation efforts, we draw no conclusions about our neighboring counties’ activities. And we were surprised to see no news about Boone’s record of environmental stewardship, especially in regard to waterways and our projects working with the National Committee for the New River. From keeping debris out of waterways to storm water management and river bank restoration, Boone has worked hard to keep waterways beautiful in every respect.

While we are not aware of any protestors, as stated in the article, we do recognize that people have questions and concerns about the proposed water intake facility in Todd. We are working to address those and communicate with concerned individuals. Currently, we are trying to educate people about the basics of the project. An environmental assessment will not be completed until late October at the earliest, so until that is finished, we’ll focus on getting the basic facts out about this project.

We appreciate your help with setting the record straight. If people would like to learn more about the proposed water intake facility, they may visit www.townofboone.net.

Greg Young, Manager

Town of Boone