Although the Pipeline is still a pipe-dream at the moment, the company that owns the rights to the water has tried to find routes for it that would make it easier to get the water from Aurora to the Triangle.

Eric Lappala of Eagle Water resources proposes using existing right of ways lines to route the pipeline.

Potential Northern Route

One proposed route follows a more northerly path. It would use the right of way along Highway 264 to get the water pipeline to the Triangle.

Potential Southern Route

A second proposed route follows a more southerly path, along the right of way where US Highway 70 current position . The engineers say they are trying to follow highway routes because it’s easier and faster than obtaining the rights to move the pipeline over private land.

Geology

The water comes from deep underground aquifers under high pressure. Because the mine has to remove 130 feet of earth above the phosphate level, the pressure of the trapped water would burst through the phosphate flooding the area. To keep the water out of the mining level, the mine pumps enough water under the phosphate layer creating a 20-mile wide depression that equalizes the pressure, making mining the phosphate safe. Currently, the excess water is dumped into the Pamlico Sound. The proposed pipeline would instead transport that water to the Triangle area.

Additional Information

Engineers have also considered trying to follow power line transmission routes too, but that has been given no hard study at this point.

Cost would be about $20,000, per inch, per mile. Engineers estimate they would need a 50-inch pipeline, which comes out to about a million dollar a mile. Total estimated cost for the pipeline, about $160,000,000.

The difference in elevation between the coast and the Triangle is about 130 feet uphill. The pipeline would require several pump stations along the way to push the water up that distance.

In addition to pumping water to the Triangle, pipeline proposers say communities along either route could tap into the pipeline as it makes its way from the coast to the Triangle. The communities allowed to tap into the pipeline would be determined by the route it takes.