CURRITUCK — Currituck officials agreed last week to issue $19 million in bonds for a new water treatment plant designed to double the county's mainland water supply.

Construction on the reverse-osmosis plant in Maple has already started, and should be complete by May 2009, County Engineer Eric Weatherly said.

"We received our notice to proceed on March 12, and construction is already under way," he said.

Currituck is building the new RO plant on the mainland because it doesn't have enough water to meet rising public demand. The current mainland water system provides 1.4 million gallons of water per day. Even so, Currituck has to buy an additional 200,000 gallons per day of water capacity from neighboring Camden County.

Prompted by Currituck's fast-growing population, county officials first began seeking permits to build the new plant three years ago.

Concerns about water shortages became acute last year, however, when drought conditions forced the county to issue voluntary use restrictions. Both residents and businesses were asked to cut back on their water consumption.

Weatherly said the voluntary water-use restrictions are still in force, but he does not foresee the county imposing mandatory use restrictions.

"We are getting ready to begin publishing educational information on ways that people can cut back on their water usage, especially in their outdoor use," Weatherly said.

County officials are most concerned about peak consumption periods like Memorial Day Weekend and the Fourth of July, he said.

When construction on the new RO plant is completed, the county will capable of producing 2.9 million gallons of water per day for mainland use.

According to Weatherly, the project includes construction of the RO plant, four new deep wells, and a 21-mile, 12-inch pipeline for transporting discharge from the Maple plant to the Albemarle Sound at Powells Point.

It also includes expanding the current water plant to work in conjunction with the new plant, and construction of two elevated storage tanks in Harbinger and Moyock.

Total cost of the project will be $24 million. The county already had $5 million on hand to spend on the plant.

The Board of Commissioners voted last week to sell bonds for the project to Branch Bank & Trust Co. at an interest rate of 4.09 percent. The state Local Government Commission will have to sign off on the sale.