A Long-Term, Sustainable Supply of Water to Meet Current and Future Needs

Union County is one of the fastest-growing counties in the southeastern U.S. but does not have a drinking water source within its boundaries. In 2013, Union County found a partner community in the Town of Norwood, North Carolina, which allowed the use of Lake Tillery for the project.

The Yadkin Regional Water Supply Project constructed a new water intake and pump station, 48 kilometers of water supply transmission lines, a 47,696 cubic meters per-day water treatment facility and 16 kilometers of drinking water transmission lines. The US$260 million project allows Union County to serve a projected 115,000 customers in the Yadkin River Basin and also provide water for the Town of Norwood and Stanly County. This effort is an excellent example of communities and agencies working together toward mutually beneficial infrastructure.

Program Management: From Permitting to Construction

With HDR as the Program Manager, UC worked through many challenges to bring the Yadkin Regional Water Supply Project into reality. We helped with environmental and preliminary engineering, strategic communications, the inter-basin transfer; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission project boundary permitting; acquisition of over 300 private easements; and coordination between two design-build teams, one team to lead the raw water elements and another team focused on finished water infrastructure.

Public Outreach and Land Acquisition: The Process to Acquire Milestone Permits

Without a proactive, transparent, and consistent public and stakeholder communication strategy, misunderstanding among water customers and extra-jurisdictional stakeholders would have threatened the completion of this complex project.

Through public outreach, stakeholder education and one-on-one relationship-building, our strategic communications team helped Union County successfully navigate this complex, multi-jurisdictional, multi-year investment.

Services

• Communication strategy, branding and collateral
• Website development, video production
• Public meeting and event planning
• Utility easement acquisitions support
• Comment management
• Public relations training for construction teams