The economic downturn and housing market collapse slowed the flow of jobs and new residents into Raleigh and eastern Wake County, but it also slowed the race for new water sources to meet the needs of the still-growing population.

The Little River Reservoir, a project to create a second major water supply to supplement Falls Lake, was put on the back burner but continues to simmer.

Kenny Waldroup, Assistant Public Utilities Director for the City of Raleigh said land for the reservoir has been purchased, but the permitting process and the public input phases of the project have been delayed until 2016.

“The economic decline caused a decline in water sales and a decline in new (water) customers,” Waldroup said.

Waldroup said Raleigh has historically increased its customer base by 3 percent a year.

“The population is still increasing, but new connections are only up by 1 percent (per year). Our high was about four and a half percent each year in 2005 and 2006,” Waldroup said.

So in 2010, the Public Utilities Department decided to put a five-year hold on aggressively pursuing the project.

“With the new customer rate much lower than the (average) 3 percent annual collective growth, there was no driving need to complete the project. We will just wait for the community’s needs to mature before we bring the reservoir back to the front burner,” Waldroup said.

The Little River watershed is located east of Rolesville and Buffalo Creek and is bordered on the north by the Franklin County and on the south by U.S. 64.

When completed, a 39-foot high dam would create a 1,100-acre reservoir that could hold 3.5 billion gallons of water. A water treatment plant would also be built to supply 17 million gallons of water a day for customers.

Waldroup said that although land purchases for the reservoir are complete, they still have to purchase land to protect the watershed area.

“There’s 770 acres of land we would like to acquire gradually for preservation,” he said.

Waldroup said the watershed area is larger than 770 acres, but the land identified for additional purchases would help avoid development and protect wildlife corridors and streams.

Waldroup said the public utilities department was working on an environmental study, which is required in order to receive a federal permit for the reservoir, when the decision was made to delay the process.

Work still ongoing

He said the work wasn’t halted completely, but is being worked on by the department staff as time permits while also handling their day-to-day duties.

Waldroup said the environmental study was approximately 75 percent complete.

“A significant component is done. It has been put on the shelf and we work on it in the interim until it’s time to bring it forward,” Waldroup said.

Once complete, the environmental study will be published and presented to the public for review.

That will begin a 60-month public review period. Once the public has provided their input, the Army Corps of Engineers will make a decision on the reservoir permit.

If they are successful in receiving the permit, Waldroup said construction could begin in 2021 and the reservoir would be ready to use by 2024.

While the reservoir project moves forward slowly, Waldroup said his department is also looking at alternatives.

He said engineering analyses are being completed on a few sites which could be considered replacements if the Little River Reservoir permits aren’t approved, but will more likely become additional sources for collecting drinking water as need increases.

“We will likely need not only the Little River Reservoir, but all of these (water sources),” Waldroup said.

The Little River Reservoir is intended to serve seven communities – Knightdale, Wendell, Zebulon, Raleigh, Garner, Wake Forest and Rolesville– which currently have 489,000 customers. But population growth in the area is expected to increase to at least 810,000 and to as many as 1.1 million customers by 2040.

Waldroup said the alternative sites would be locations along the Neuse River where more water could be withdrawn.

He said water needs could also require studying if more water could be pulled from Falls Lake. His department has already studied, and eliminated, using water from Lake Jordan, Kerr Lake and the Atlantic Ocean.

They are also looking at how to use reclaimed water and water conservation efforts.

“Water conservation and efficiency (methods) can’t meet the water needs, but will be an important component,” Waldroup said.