The State College Borough Water Authority, which came under attack from some council members in January as being inefficient, told the council last night that water shortage problems will be solved by next year.

However, steps must be taken to protect all of the borough's well sites from contamination, which will be costly, authority members said.

"If we're going to protect our well fields we're going to have buy land now," said authority member John George. "We aren't in the land buying business, but we want to protect our water."

Ground water sources can be contaminated by developments from miles away and to ensure that does not happen the authority plans to acquire property around well sites, estimated to cost between $2.2 and $4 million, authority members said.

Although the cost of developing sites is expensive, the new connection fee of $660 to new homeowners passed by the authority last month will help offset these costs. The fee is expected to raise as much as $450,000 annually, authority manager Paul Fisher said.

Currently, State College water rates are among the lowest in the area said George, who hopes they do not rise.

The authority is developing several well sites, including one at the Alexander farm in Benner Township, which is expected to produce 3 million gallons of water per day, Fisher said. The authority is also developing sites in Centre Hills, Ferguson Township and Chestnut Ridge, he added.

A filtration system for the Shingletown Gap Reservoir -- which was closed in January 1988 because of a protozoan contamination called Giardia cysts -- is not expected to be on-line until mid to late 1993. The reservoir would produce about 7 million gallons of water per day, Fisher said.

Authority Chairman David Long said when all of these systems are finally brought on-line they should meet the borough's water demands until the year 2020.

However, it is estimated that the Centre Region's ground water sources will be exhausted by the year 2050, when the borough will have to consider options such as using stream water or recycling old water for drinking use.

At a State College Borough Council work session in January, Councilman R. Thomas Berner criticized the authority for being to slow to act on solutions to water problems.

"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," he said.

The authority received no criticism last night and Councilwoman Ruth Lavin commended its efforts.

"We would like to think we've moved prudently to meet the water needs of the community," Long said.