Them that refuse it are few

One of the first things that Horace Kephart noticed about the mountain people was their peculiar attitudes toward water.  (Second thing was their familiar attitudes with corn liquor.)  The mountaineers did not like to travel to the flatlands because good, clean water was hard to find.  It was not unusual for them to carry water (and corn liquor) with them if they had to go outside of the mountains.  The highlanders were not known to share their mountain water although they might sell their mountain dew.

Their descendants in Altamont are still funny about sharing water.  In the early part of the 20th century, the communities of Padgettown and Walkertown gave up the ghost to be submerged under the Burnett Reservoir in Black Mountain.  The clear mountain streams that feed this august body have provided drinking water to Altamont and its environs ever since.  It initially fed independent water districts throughout the county as well.

At the end of the 1920’s the stock market crash had a disasterous effect on these highly leveraged water districts as well as the equally highly leveraged City of Altamont.  The county took over the debt of the districts but passed the infrastructure on to the city in exchange for a promise that rates would remain the same for all subscribers, wherever they lived.  This promise was subsequently written into law with the Sullivan Act.  The City said thank you very much and proceeded to use the revenue from the water system to do all sorts of things except keep the water system in good repair.

So now the City of Altamont faces the bill for maintenance long deferred.  In addition, it seeks to extend its authority beyond its borders through manipulating who does and does not get water.  Living among the Suwaree, not in the City of Altamont, I have to register my objection to this plan.  Poor planning of previous generations does not obligate me to retire another’s budget deficit.  Furthermore, I desire a voice in the discussion of decisions that will affect the Land of the Suwaree for many years to come.

In the current process to decide who will speak for Buncombe in the State Legislature, one candidate would overturn the Sullivan act and leave regional land use planning to the City of Altamont while the other has been slow to embrace any land use planning at all.  While I do not like the latter, I loathe the former.  We need our state representatives to move City and County officials closer to cooperative planning, not into further bickering and debate.  The Sullivan Acts are law, supported by multiple court rulings.  Since you don’t mind drinking the water of the Suwaree, maybe you can talk to us too.