Contact: Allan Williams
Phone:  (336) 373-2050

City Begins Pumping Water from Haw River Basin

GREENSBORO, NC (October 26, 2007) – The City of Greensboro began pumping water from the Haw River into Lake Townsend on October 25 in an effort to begin refilling the reservoir, which is 82 inches below full capacity due to the statewide drought.

The City is pumping about 10 to 11 million gallons per day from the Haw River through the pipeline that was constructed in 2002. The State of North Carolina allows the City of Greensboro to continue pumping water from the Haw until the flow rate in the river drops below 23 cubic feet per second (cfs), which means the City should be able to pump for at least a week at current conditions, although it is unknown exactly how long the flow will remain above 23 cfs.

The Haw River pipeline project was designed and constructed to give the City the ability to tap into the Haw River basin during emergency drought conditions. This project involved the reactivation and renovation of an existing pump station located on the Haw River and the installation of 13.5 miles of 30-inch pipe to connect the Haw River to the Lake Townsend reservoir. The project cost about $8 million.

“The Haw pipeline and the water system connection to Burlington are providing the City of Greensboro with significant ability to handle the recent drought of record,” said City Manager Mitch Johnson. “The decisions to implement these options were made by City Council when it became clear that the Randleman dam project would not be available in the near term after the drought of 2001. While the City of Greensboro has consistently supported and requested that the Randleman Authority build all needed infrastructure as soon as possible to make the Randleman water available to our customers, the Randleman Authority has only recently obtained the approval of all members to move forward with construction.”

The most recent projection for the availability of water from the Randleman Authority is 2010-2011. 

For more information about the Haw River pipeline project or the current drought, contact the City’s Water Resources Director Allan Williams at 373-2050 or Water Supply Manager Steve Drew at 373-7893.

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