Botetourt County and a private water company that are at odds over future service areas in the growing locality will go before the State Corporation Commission next week as part of an effort to settle the dispute.

The SCC issued a ruling late Monday instructing the county and Central Water Co. to meet Oct. 16 for a pre-hearing conference at the commission's Richmond office to "establish further proceedings required to resolve this matter."

The county last month requested that the SCC revoke its approval for Central Water to expand beyond its current service area at the Ashley Plantation subdivision off U.S. 220 in Daleville.

In February, the SCC approved Central Water's application to expand the boundaries of its service territory along U.S. 220 in Daleville.

The territory also includes a big swath of land bordering about 10 miles of Interstate 81. The expansion gives Central Water sole rights to serve water customers in the area, even on more than 200 acres of county-owned industrial land in the Botetourt Center at Greenfield.

County officials have said they weren't notified of the proposed expansion, which is required by the SCC, and would have objected to it if they had been made aware of the proposal.

The county alleges in a petition filed with the SCC in July that Central Water's president, Steve Rossi, "willfully misrepresented" the facts when he stated that the expanded territory wasn't currently being served by any other water utility providers.

The county has argued that not only are the county and Fincastle providing such services, but that three subdivisions within Rossi's expanded territory have their own private water systems.

The majority of Botetourt County's 32,000 residents get their water from private wells or privately operated water systems in subdivisions, and use septic tanks for their sewage.

Central Water has made recent upgrades to its infrastructure and can't continue to serve its current customers economically without expanding its customer base, Rossi said.

He expects to gain anywhere from 400 to 1,200 new customers with the expansion -- about as many customers as the county currently has -- and doesn't intend to interfere with any other systems currently in place.

According to SCC rules, prior to the agency approving the application, Rossi was to inform the county of his request for an expansion and advertise it in the local newspaper for other water companies to see. That would give the county and anyone interested an opportunity to challenge the expansion before the SCC granted the application.

Rossi said he sent a letter through the U.S. Postal Service to the head of the county board of supervisors and placed an ad in a December issue of The Roanoke Times.