The demand for water in the State College borough will exceed supply by the end of the year and unless new water sources can be brought on-line soon, development bans are certain, officials say.

"We have enough water to sustain growth for about 12 months and we don't have any additional sources to bring on-line in that period," said Robert Schmalz, a member of the State College water authority.

Paul Fisher, water authority manager, is hopeful the situation will not come to that.

"If you were an extreme optimist there will be zero bans," he said.

Currently the borough is using about 4.7 million gallons of water a day and is only capable of supplying 4.9 million gallons daily, Fisher said.

The authority has a few well sites it is trying to develop but the earliest any could be added to the system is March 1991.

None of the possible water sources has been awarded permits by the state Department of Environmental Resources.

At its meeting last Thursday the authority agreed to purchase 6.9 acres of land in Benner Township with four wells located on it, said Fisher.

The Francis Alexander Farm was purchased for $334,000, Schmalz said. The wells could provide up to three million gallons per day but cannot be added to the system until late 1991, at the earliest, he said.

The authority is also waiting for DER to permit a planned filtration system for the Shingletown Gap Reservoir, Fisher said.

The reservoir was closed in January 1988 after officials discovered it was contaminated with Giardia cysts, a type of protozoan.

Fisher said he expects the Shingletown reservoir -- which can provide the borough with six million gallons of water per day -- to be back on-line by January 1992.

The well sites located at Cheasnut Ridge, which might provide the borough with 500,000 gallons of water per day, are the first most likely to be used, Fisher said.

At the Jan. 8 work session of the borough council, the water authority came under criticism from some council members who recommended the structure of the authority be changed.

Councilman R. Thomas Berner said at the meeting, "The water authority is an extremely slow responsive unit in our government. Their solution to water conservation seems to be to hire a (public relations) person -- maybe it's time to change the system."

However, councilwoman Ruth Lavin recently defended the authority saying, "I think (the water authority members) have been very responsible."

Lavin said she feared that if the structure of the authority was changed, the funds for the water program would instead go directly to the borough's general fund, which could limit the amount of funds allocated to the water program.

Fisher said developing new water sources has required a lot of time because land owners are reluctant to let the authority drill on their land.

"Some (land owners) feel that you will reduce the value of their land," he said.

The development of new wells should not affect water rates, Schmalz said, adding that inflation and ordinary increases in production costs will, however, push the rates up.