When Pinehurst officials came to Laurinburg this week to seek the county's approval on a deal to buy water and wastewater plants, county commissioners were warned that the clock was ticking.

Time was of the essence, Pinehurst Village Manager Andy Wilkison insisted to the Scotland County Board of Commissioners.

According to Wilkison, the owners of the West Point Pepperell water and wastewater plants in Wagram would like to wrap up the sale in November.

But because Pinehurst needs 90 or more days to carry out the proper inspections of the plants, hitting that deadline may be difficult unless Scotland greenlights the deal this week.

To their credit, Scotland leaders refused to be rushed into signing off on the deal. Pinehurst must have the approval of the Scotland County board for the sale to go through.

Board Chairman J.D. Willis said the county needs between 30 to 60 days to study the plan before it can act.

For starters, county leaders want to know how purchasing the plants from WP Properties Wagram LLC for $5.5 million will affect tax revenues. If the plant is sold to a municipality, it would be exempt from paying Scotland property taxes.

There is also the question of unforeseen water needs of Scotland County down the road. The site is on the Lumber River, which flows into Drowning Creek. The two plants are currently permitted to handle seven million gallons daily, but could be upgraded to a capacity as high as 17 million.

"Pinehurst has been working on this for three months, so they just can't come forward and get an answer in seven days," Willis said.

That is the other large question mark lingering over this whole deal. Why have Pinehurst leaders been so reluctant to include others in the initial planning on something that also impacts portions of Moore, Hoke and Scotland counties?

Scotland County had already been studying the possibility of buying the plant and creating a water authority with various counties and municipalities for about two years.

So it is strange that Pinehurst leaders had not sought to consult with Scotland leaders before Monday's surprise request.

The Moore County Board of Commissioners voiced a similar complaint when they learned of the plan.

Moore County officials say they found out about Pinehurst's plans to buy water and sewer facilities in Scotland County from a news release.

That seems a heck of way to build consensus for the concept. Unless Pinehurst finds a way to be more inclusive, it may find that it plans for water really are all wet.