Charlie Jones felt like he was moving out into the country when he bought his home in southern Franklin County's Georgetown Woods subdivision four years ago.

Not any more.

"Boy, has it ever grown up around us," said Jones, a businessman and real estate broker who also sells homes in the area. "We see a lot more traffic and a lot more houses. Our churches are growing. It's booming."

A booming population needs water. And there isn't much of it in Franklin County, a scarcity underscored by the drought gripping North Carolina and much of the Southeast.

The county's rocky soil means groundwater is not abundant -- too scarce to serve suburban growth boiling out of Wake County, according to a county-funded study of Franklin's water needs. And Franklin County has nothing like Falls or Kerr lakes, big reservoirs built to serve large populations.

So Franklin County is looking elsewhere. Most recently, county officials have expressed interest in pulling water from the Neuse River. But that has sparked friction with Raleigh officials who are defending the city's prime source of water, Falls Lake, a drought-ravaged reservoir formed by three tributaries of the Neuse.

This month, the Raleigh City Council rejected new environmental rules aimed at protecting a potential source of water for Franklin County on the Neuse River at the former Burlington Mills textile plant off Capital Boulevard. Franklin County commissioners meet Tuesday to talk about pulling water from the spot, which could produce up to 7 million gallons a day.

But the mill intake is just downstream from the dwindling waters of Falls Lake. Using that source would mean more water would have to be released from the reservoir to ensure an adequate flow downstream -- and there's little water to spare in Falls Lake now.

"Our position is that the Neuse River has no additional water supply resource available -- if such were the case, we would be pursuing this location ourselves in our long-term water supply plan," Mayor Charles Meeker wrote in a letter to Franklin County officials.

Raleigh officials also hope to convince state lawmakers this year that the mill intake isn't a viable water source and doesn't need enhanced environmental protection -- an argument sharpened by the city's dwindled water supply.

But Franklin doesn't have a lot of options.

"We've got to look in other geographical areas to satisfy the demand coming in to Franklin County," said Bryce Mendenhall, Franklin's public utilities director.

Franklin County sits northeast of Wake County, near Wake Forest and Rolesville. Once rural, it's now home to the kind of new development that has risen across the Triangle. Franklin's growth ranges from subdivisions of starter homes to mansions priced well over $1 million.

In Franklin County, homebuyers can be close to Raleigh, Interstate 540 and Research Triangle Park but still go home to a comfortable home on a large lot.

Between 2000 and 2006, state demographers estimate that the county's population grew by 17 percent, to about 55,315.

By 2027, Franklin's population could reach 95,000.

Most of the growth is expected in the south and southwestern part of the county, closest to Wake County, said Patrick Young, the county's planning director. About 60 percent of Franklin County workers drive to Wake County for their jobs.

Franklin County has a small, young water system. It started buying water in 2000 and now serves about 2,700 customers. The county has a contract to buy up to 3 million gallons of water a day from the city of Henderson, which is served by Kerr Lake, a sprawling reservoir of the Roanoke River shared by Virginia and North Carolina.

Next page >