Keep water pact out of the courts

If there's one thing that the recent drought ought to be teaching us, it is that regionalism is the answer to water problems, not setting up little fiefdoms that compete with each other and cause waste and duplication.

That's why leaders from Henderson County and the city of Asheville ought to sit down at the negotiating table and resolve once and for all the disputed 1995 water agreement.

A pact that both sides can live with would be much preferred over Henderson County's threat of legal action.

If ever there were a waste of tax money, it is government suing government. The only winners are the lawyers and in this case, the riparian experts and hydrologists that both sides would hire.

The losers are the taxpayers who foot the bill and in this case, regionalism, which would be set back decades by the hard feelings that court fights cause.

But so far, the only way Henderson County has been able to get Asheville to live up to the 1995 agreement's terms is through lawsuits.

In that agreement, Asheville got permission to buy land in Mills River, put a water intake in the Mills River and build a $35 million water plant and transmission lines.

In return, Asheville agreed to build water lines in northern Henderson County, deed a piece of land in Bent Creek to Henderson County and give Henderson County a seat on the Asheville-Buncombe Water Authority. In addition, the agreement called for all parties to work in good faith "towards the creation of a regional authority" and work to promote the authority to other local government units in the mountains.

The agreement hasn't worked out well for Henderson County.

"In short, we ended up getting nothing in return for letting Asheville have the land and the water rights," says Bill Moyer, chairman of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners.

Asheville pulled out of the Asheville-Buncombe Water Authority, causing its dissolution in 2005.

It took a lawsuit to pry the Bent Creek deed from Asheville, and another one to force Asheville to build a waterline to serve the American Freightliner trucking terminal in Mills River.

Since then, Asheville has refused to build any more lines, Moyer said. Even more frustrating is Asheville's refusal to discuss regional solutions to water issues, he said.

"Asheville has simply not moved in any way toward establishing a regional water authority" as the 1995 agreement requires, Moyer said.

A recent meeting between Henderson County commissioners and Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy did nothing to improve relations.

The mayor arrived an hour late and then spoke in private with Moyer, relaying a message that Asheville wanted to hold off discussions until a lawsuit between Asheville and Buncombe County over water rates is settled.

"The latest word is they are not really for a meeting," Moyer said.

And we're not really for secret meetings.

Asheville and Buncombe County tried that already, and it didn't work. In fact, the lawsuit over water rates is the result of those meetings. Nor are we for lawsuits or getting the Legislature involved.

It is good to hear Moyer agrees. He says a lawsuit is the worst possible way to resolve the issue with the Legislature a close second.

Henderson County and Asheville ought to spare no effort to sit down in open meetings and hammer out a new agreement that both sides can live with.