That's the case in northern Wake County, where Rolesville and Wake Forest are at odds over proposed development restrictions in the drainage basin of the planned Little River Reservoir. By 2020, the 1,100-acre lake between Rolesville and Zebulon would become a source of drinking water for Raleigh and several other towns -- including Wake Forest and Rolesville.

The purpose of the restrictions is to protect the reservoir's purity. The Little River has a high water-quality classification, and planners worry that state or federal environmental regulators might block the lake's construction if development around it pollutes the water. So they propose, among other things, to ban any more municipal development in its watershed.

Raleigh supports the rules, as it has for its other reservoirs, Falls Lake and Lake Benson.

So does Wake Forest, whose commissioners endorsed the restrictions last week 3-2.

But Rolesville, led by Mayor-elect Frank Eagles, opposes the limits. The town wants to annex property and provide water -- but not sewer service -- in a big chunk of the basin's "noncritical area" upstream of the lake. New lots throughout that area would have to be at least an acre.

Rolesville's intended reach would push the town southeast to Mitchell Mill Road and N.C. 96. That's at the outer edge of the watershed's "critical area," a half-mile lake buffer with lot sizes of at least two or three acres.

"Rolesville does not plan on extending water lines and sewer into the critical area," Eagles told Wake's commissioners last week.

Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, however, says that distinction offers little comfort.

"Either way, it raises concerns about whether the reservoir can get permitted," he said. "In any case, our policy doesn't allow it."

And in Wake Forest, dissenting commissioner Frank Drake calls the restrictions too lax.

"Common sense tells me you don't mess with your source of drinking water," he said. "More is not better, because it increases the amount of undesirable stuff flowing into the reservoir. Who wants to drink fertilizer, pesticides, antifreeze or paint?"

Bigger question: Will Wake tell Rolesville yes, or no? Stay tuned.

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