At the least, let’s give Southern Durham Development, where hope lives eternal for its 751 South project, credit for trying. And I do mean trying to the point of farce.

The latest chapter in this serial has introduced a new character, Aqua North Carolina, a private provider of water for users who aren’t served by municipal or county water systems. Mobile-home and manufactured housing developments are usually served by Aqua or a similar private provider.

If you’ve followed the story so far, you know that Southern Durham Development wants to plant 751 South on 167 acres just north of the Chatham County line and in close proximity to Jordan Lake – too close, critics say.

I and other southwest Durham residents fear that the 1,300 houses and townhouses, plus 300,000 square feet of commercial space, bode ill for Jordan Lake, whose water quality already suffers from pollution. And although Southern Durham promises 751 South will have virtually no impact on water quality, many of us in the “Lost Province” of Durham County just aren’t convinced.

Now, the 751 South suspicion meter has risen again with reports that Aqua North Carolina and Southern Durham Development cooked up a plan to circumvent the City Council’s refusal to serve the project with city water. This where the farce originates, and it’s worthy of the Three Stooges.

As Durham News correspondent Matt Goad reported last week, Aqua North Carolina proposes to buy 850,000 gallons a day of water from Chatham County to serve 751 South. In a preliminary vote, Chatham Commissioners were 4-1 for the deal.

What’s not to like about it? Chatham County gets the dollars, Durham County gets the problems.

What’s not to like about it for the city is that 751 South gets city water via Aqua North Carolina and Chatham County, because Durham is where the 850,000 gallons a day would come from. Call it water laundering, for lack of a better term.

This scheme is not a criminal enterprise by any means, though it does seem to breach an agreement the city has with Chatham County that prohibits sale of city water outside the county. Presumably, the Chatham commissioners believe selling Durham water to Aqua North Carolina exempts them from the agreement, since it’s not the county that’s selling the water to 751 South, but a private entity.

If so, that dog won’t hunt. It’s also further evidence of a hard truth: 751 South is a no-go without plenty of clean water, reliably delivered and reasonably priced.

Today, the only way to get that water is from Durham.

Southern Durham Development could opt for wells. But wells are the least desirable option, drawing fossil water from an aquifer. That water must be cleansed to state standards. The process is costly, inefficient and fraught with environmental issues.

Southern Durham Development has worked its way into a vise, and that vise could get tighter if the firm goes before the Durham commissioners for permission to use wells at 751 South.

Two new commissioners, Fred Foster and Wendy Jacobs, have expressed concern about the environmental impact of 751 South. A third commissioner, Ellen Reckhow, is an avowed opponent of the project. Those three could deny wells for 751 South, an action that would almost certainly write The End to this episode of ... oh, you know.