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GALLOWAY DETAILS HISTORY OF WATERSHED

Lee Galloway, Town Manager

In the 1920s, the Town of Waynesville was growing, with industry finding a location in Waynesville or Hazelwood and people locating here for the jobs. In 1923, the Town purchased 2,043 acres of land from Haywood Mining and Lumber Company for $1.00 per acre, and that area became the Town’s water source as it began a public water supply. The Town was also buying property from individual owners in the area above the Rocky Branch Baptist Church, and our first water source in that area was a very small impoundment on Rocky Branch.

The reservoir holds just less than a billion gallons of water and is rated to provide 12 million gallons per day in treated water. At present, our water plant is structured to treat 8 million gallons per day but normally runs in the 3.5 million gallons per day range. We supply water to about 18,000 people in Haywood County but we are working with adjacent communities to be able to serve them during drought situations.

Over the course of the next 60 years, on several occasions, the town conducted a number of timbering projects in the watershed, generating revenue in the process. The last timbering done in the watershed was in 1986. During the coming year, the Town Board will vote to proceed with a new project to remove timber.

The Water Treatment Plant was built in the early 1950s and expanded in the middle 1960s. In the late 70s, grant funds were found to build the dam above the water plant and to greatly expand the size of the reservoir. When that work was done, there was a new drainage area added to the reservoir that of Bear Pen Branch on the east side of the dam.

Once Bear Pen Branch was added, it meant that a portion of the water entering the reservoir came from privately held land. This was not a problem until 1989, when the State of North Carolina passed new rules stating that in order for a watershed to have the highest Class I designation, the water could only come from public lands or land under a strict conservation easement. The reason for this was to keep development out of an area and prevent contamination to a public water supply.

It was necessary to protect the Class 1 Certification, so efforts began in 1994 to find the money to buy the land. (There were also two other privately held tracts) By 2002 all the land was purchased. The cost of all this for land, survey, legal expenses, came to approximately $1,350,000. Grants covered $850,000 and the Town contributed approximately $500,000. After bringing all of the property in the watershed under public ownership, the Town agreed to place the entire watershed, about 8,000 acres, under two separate conservation easements. The balance of the watershed, approximately 7,030 acres, was placed in a “Working Forest” easement. The Town began working with the Conservation Trust of North Carolina. The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy is another organization which has partial responsibility for the oversight of the easement, and they have been active in other easements in Haywood County. The Town was required to have a Watershed Management Plan to address how forestry activities could be carried out without damage to the quality of the water.

The Town Board has given considerable attention and study to the proper management of the watershed with particular attention to maintaining the high quality water we have.

General Announcements

2010 Night of Celebration to be held June 29th

This year's annual Night of Celebration will be held Tuesday, June 29th, at the Laurel Ridge Country Club Pavillion. A new slate of officers will be installed by incoming District Governor Ed Walcoff. Waynesville Rotarians will be honored for their contributions throughout the past year. The Tony Award will again be presented.

If you have not already done so, please sign up for your attendance at this important meeting or contact incoming President Billy Case by email to let him know that you will attend and how many will attend with you. To contact Billy, CLICK HERE!

Please note that the Night of Celebration is our meeting of the week! There will be no Friday meeting on July 2nd!

OPPORTUNITIES FOR SERVICE!

Manna BackPack Challenge: 31 Waynesville Rotarians accepted Karen Denny’s and Floyd Rogers’s challenge to match their donation to the Manna Food Bank Backpack program. A sponsorship is $122.00 per student. If you have made this commitment, please make your check payable to the Waynesville Rotary FOUNDATION instead of Waynesville Rotary. Your leadership has determined that it would be best for these monies to go directly to the Foundation rather than through the club account. This will also give you the advantage of some tax breaks by making the donation. Simply indicate on your check that the donation is for the Manna Food Bank Backpack Challenge. If additional members wish to join this effort, please feel free to do so. Simply make out your check as noted above and give it to Scot Worley, Lynne Barrett, Bill Bird, or Neal Ensley at one of the Friday meetings.

For more information, contact Past President Lynne.

Boy Scout Troop support: An additional opportunity to support our community is by making a donation to the Boy Scout Troop led by our own Rotarian Billy Dinwiddie, Jr. The Pack is in serious need of a trailer and some other items. Any interested Rotarian, especially former Scouts, are urged to support this effort. Again, please make your check payable to the Waynesville Rotary Foundation.

For more information, contact Bill Bird.

Boy Scout Troop Leaders: Troop 318 is in need of volunteers to act as Assistant Troop leaders. If interested, please contact Billy Dinwiddie either by e-mail or phone, 550-1314. You may write to Billy by CLICKING HERE!

ROTARY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Shelter Box Update - You may view the latest on Shelter Boxes and the recent catastrophe in Myanmar by CLICKING HERE! Waynesville Rotary participated in the world wide Shelter Box project by donating a Shelter Box in this current fiscal year. You, as a Waynesville Rotarian, helped make District 7670 one of the TOP 10 suppliers of Shelter Boxes within Rotary!

The May 2010 edition of the Rotary District 7670 newsletter has been released. You may access it by clicking HERE!

NEW FUNCTION ON CLUB WEBSITE!

Club members will find a new link on the home page of the club website. The link, Directory On-Line, will take you to the District 7670 database where you can access your Rotary account to handle updates, your Rotarian subscription, and many other items related to your membership in Rotary. This is a secure site and you will be asked for your user id (your email address as entered by our Executive Secretary) and your password, which is your account number found on the mailing label of your Rotarian magazine. As of 07/16/2009, all current members have their Rotary International ID number entered into the District database.

Need the contact information for a fellow Rotarian? Log into the database and look it up under "My Club". Of course, the information is ONLY as GOOD as what gets updated! Please log in and check your own account for accuracy!

The financial module is now up and running. Members were sent, via email, invoices and statements on Friday, Octoer 16th for the 1st quarter of our fiscal year (07/09 through 09/09). Members without email will have printed copies of the invoice and statement available at the regular Friday meeting. The current financial and attendance data is available on-line for all Rotarians. To view your data, log into the District Database by entering your email address and Rotary International number for the password. Click on the Member tab and then click on either "member dues history" or "member attendance". The member dues history is in REAL TIME so members may now see their current financial information.

Questions regarding the information should be submitted via email by CLICKING HERE!

The Rotary name and logo are the exclusive property of Rotary International and are used here under Rotary International Internet Policy Guidelines.Copyright ©2009 Rotary Club of Waynesville, NC (USA). All Rights Reserved.