In the spring of 1965, a group of concerned citizens — C. Boyce Sink, Harold Lanier, Howard Craver, Luther Berrier, and Robert Ripple — met at the home of C. Boyce Sink to discuss incorporation of Welcome. Instead of incorporation, the group determined that a safe, dependable water system was needed not only for Welcome, but for all of northern Davidson County. They held a public meeting at Welcome Elementary School where speakers from the Institute of Government and the mayor of Lexington reaffirmed the need and benefits of a water system.
A small group continued to meet to find a way to construct the system. Clyde Pickle, Farmers Home Administration's local representative, was instrumental in obtaining the needed funds. The group retained Campbell Wallace Consulting Engineers of Knoxville, Tennessee to prepare plans. Campbell Wallace proposed drawing water from the Yadkin River into a man-made lake, then through settling basins, flocculators, and dual media filters of coal, sand, and rock, before distribution through a network of pipelines, pump stations, and elevated storage tanks. The proposed facility would need over 3,000 customers to justify its existence.
In 1966, the people of North Davidson County — working through civic clubs, volunteer fire departments, and church organizations — signed contracts to show Farmers Home Administration that the system was needed and would succeed.
On March 1, 1967, North Davidson Water, Inc., a non-profit corporation, was chartered. The first Board of Directors consisted of C. Boyce Sink (President), James A. Craver (Vice President), Robert L. Ripple (Secretary), Ralph A. Kimel (Treasurer), and several other community leaders. Farmers Home Administration loaned the newly formed corporation $3,680,000, and construction began on the water system in 1967. Jasper Younts was employed as the first General Manager.
The first annual meeting of North Davidson Water, Inc. was held at North Davidson Senior High School on March 24, 1970. By 1969, the system had begun serving nearly 3,000 customers. Other areas of the county quickly sought water service, leading to the formation of sister systems: West Davidson Water, Inc. (1968), Wallburg Water, Inc. (January 16, 1969), Hasty Water, Inc. (February 17, 1969), and East Central Water, Inc. (May 10, 1969). Each received funding from Farmers Home Administration and contracted with North Davidson Water for water, maintenance, and management services.
In October 1973, when a change in law removed the lending cap, all five systems consolidated to form Davidson Water, Inc. The new board comprised three members from each of the five former systems — fifteen dedicated community leaders whose work, along with countless others, turned a dream into reality.
Today, Davidson Water operates three intake stations on the Yadkin River with a combined pumping capacity of 31 million gallons per day, feeding three interconnected lakes holding approximately 75 million gallons. Three raw water pump stations can deliver 32 million gallons per day to settling basins equipped with track-vac systems for continuous sediment removal. Twenty dual media filters — each capable of filtering one million gallons per day — ensure consistently high water quality.
Davidson Water has invested continuously in infrastructure and reliability: large-scale generators at the water plant and key pump stations, a radio-based telemetering system for real-time tank and pump status monitoring, a comprehensive GIS mapping system of all valve, hydrant, and meter locations, and emergency interconnections with Winston-Salem, Lexington, Handy Sanitary District, Thomasville, and High Point.
In 1988 and 1989, Davidson Water refinanced over $23,000,000 in Farmers Home Administration loans at a discount, ultimately saving the company $9,000,000 in principal and significantly more in interest by reducing the remaining loan term to 15 years.
Davidson Water, Inc. was instrumental in starting the North Carolina Rural Water Association and was one of the eight charter members of the National Rural Water Association. Our former General Manager, J. A. Younts, served on both boards and was president of both organizations.
A small group of men, just over 30 years ago, took the first steps in forming a water system that became the largest Farmers Home Administration financed, privately owned, rural water system in the world.
