ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. – After years of drinking, cooking and even bathing with bottled water, residents near a coal ash site in Rowan County are finally using county water.
Rowan County purchases the water from the city of Salisbury and then sells it to neighbors.
“We have to pay the middle man now, which is county commissioners, and it is an outrageous amount,” resident Bonita Queen said.
County manager Aaron Church said the rate is essential to provide the service and he said the county isn’t turning a profit.
“There is no wiggle room,” Church said.
“We’re required by state law to pay for enterprise funds with enterprise fund money.
We cannot take money out of general fund and prop up the water fund.
"You can’t compare Rowan County’s water with Belmont because Rowan has a new system,” Church said.
Church said staff members met with neighbors in two public meetings last year to let them know what the rates would likely be.
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