With 80 percent of its water and sewer rights tied up -- mostly in developments that haven't been built yet -- Franklin has stopped allowing new residential developments from connecting to its water and sewer utility network. Franklin County commissioners took the action Monday, leaving new subdivisions to rely on wells for water and septic tanks for sewer.

There are 5,500 empty lots within county limits that have water rights but aren't producing income for the county.

Some lots have lain fallow for years, approved under ordinances that set no time limits to build.

"We found out that we needed to make some quick actions," said Bryce Mendenhall, Franklin County's public utilities director.

One subdivision, Olde Liberty, has tied up enough water for 1,450 three-bedroom homes for more than seven years. Of those, only 20 to 30 homes homes have been built, Mendenhall said.

That leaves Franklin County with only 2,500 water customers to pay the $19 million in debt the county has spent over the past several years to improve its utilities.

One builder agrees with the intention of the county's decision.

"The policy is fine," said Matthew Winslow, in charge of acquisitions for DenMark Construction, a Franklin County building company. "The county needs to do what they can to manage their resources."

But Winslow said the county needs to establish clear guidelines and not politicize the process.

Even with the suspension, already approved allocations of water and sewer capacity will support only eight year's worth of growth -- not long in planning terms.

By 2012, the county will need 6 million gallons a day, and it is not sure where that will come from.

Now, Franklin County produces a small amount of its drinking water, buying the rest from Louisburg, Henderson and Franklinton.

A possible solution is to pull water from the Neuse River from the old Burlington Mills industrial plant in Wake County, a move that Raleigh opposes.

For now, Franklin County officials hope that the suspension of new water and sewer services will give them the time to sort out the water problem.

"We need to let what we approved build out and aggressively look for the next source of water," said Patrick Young, Franklin County planning director.

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