To accommodate growth and development around Smith Mountain Lake, the Bedford County Public Service Authority wants to increase the amount of drinking water it withdraws from the lake -- by as much as 2 million gallons a day.

The authority has filed petitions with Appalachian Power Co., the company that operates the hydroelectric dam, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency that licenses the dam, to increase the peak daily withdrawal from 1 million gallons to 3 million gallons per day, Appalachian spokesman John Shepelwich said.

The current permit allows for an average daily amount of 500,000 gallons to be withdrawn. The PSA's proposal would increase the average to 2 million gallons per day.

The lake contains about 20,000 surface acres, which means the first foot of the lake contains more than 6 billion gallons of water. Drawing a peak volume of 3 million gallons per day essentially won't make a visible difference in the lake's water level.

"With the growth we have seen at the lake, we want to go ahead and increase it," PSA Director Brian Key said.

The Moneta water treatment plant has allowed the county to extend water service along Virginia 122 in Bedford County and into the Westlake area of Franklin County.

"The growth that we have projected so we could justify the increase includes the growth in Franklin County," Key said.

Although development around the lake has slowed somewhat during the past six months, Key said the area has seen about a 6 percent growth increase in recent years, and the PSA wants to provide services where demand exists.

"We currently have a water-treatment plant capable of withdrawing a million gallons a day, but we are limited to 500,000," Key said.

The Moneta plant is capable of expanding to handle a capacity of 2 million gallons by adding framework on the ground and connecting to existing pipes.

Key said the proposal already has been approved by the state Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Quality, and he anticipates a decision from Appalachian and the FERC within the next couple of months.

The permit would be good for the life of the dam's license, which is currently in the relicensing phase, Shepelwich said. The dam's original license was issued in 1960 before the project to dam the Blackwater and Roanoke rivers began. It is set to expire in 2010.

At the peak rate of 3 million gallons per day drawn from the lake, John Lindsey of the Roanoke River Basin Association said he believes the withdrawal will affect downstream.

At Leesville Lake, the Smith Mountain project's lower reservoir, 3 million gallons are considerably less than what's routinely released, Lindsey said.

Even farther downstream, Virginia Beach draws 60 million gallons per day from Lake Gaston near the North Carolina-Virginia border.

In Appalachian's proposed relicensing request now in front of the FERC, it's stated that a total of 12 million gallons can be withdrawn daily from Smith Mountain Lake by Bedford County, Franklin County and the Western Virginia Water Authority, Lindsey said.

"The amount of 3 million [gallons per day] is well within the planning factors and is not at all surprising with all the development at Hales Ford [Bridge]," he said.