Peacthree City water officials say their preliminary studies aimed at possibly increasing the city's water delivery capacity are in no way connected to discussions of annexing more than 1,200 acres for a proposed West Village.

No matter what happens in the ongoing annexation debate, the Water and Sewerage Authority has to be ready to deal with it, said Larry Turner, authority general manager.

An annexation proposal for a planned development in the West Village was scheduled to be discussed by the City Council at last night's regular meeting. Results of that discussion were not available at press time, but a brief update can be seen on the Citizen's Web site at www.thecitizennews.com.

While WASA has not yet applied for an increase in capacity at its three treatment plants, Turner says that there will have be some expansion at some point, regardless of annexation.

“We obviously don't have any opinion on annexation,” he said Wednesday. “But we've got to be ready to go no matter what.”

The current capacity is 4.9 million gallons per day, and that limit is regulated by the state. A National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit must be held to maintain that level, and another permit must be obtained to increase it.

Those permits run for five years, and Turner says the city is now in the renewal process, but only to stay at the current level. “It's just a standard renewal.”

Environmentalist Dennis Chase, president of the Line Creek Association, sent a letter this week to Harold Reheis, director of the state's Environmental Protection Division, saying that WASA is already looking to expand its capacity and the public needs more time to comment on capacity. A copy of this letter was furnished to The Citizen.

“This letter is to request an extension of time on the issuance of the expansion of the existing NPDES permit for [WASA], for discharges from the three water treatment facilities in Peachtree City,” the letter stated.

“The authority has completed part of the background studies of the water quality data and the biological assessment for their watershed assessment study. Those studies were kept confidential until the authority met with Peachtree City officials on Jan. 11,” Chase's letter said.

Turner disputed that statement, pointing out that the Watershed Advisory Board held two public hearings, the first of which was last September and the second Jan. 11. He added that findings of the ongoing watershed assessment have been discussed at several regular WASA public meetings.

As for the comment regarding expansion, Turner reiterated that no such process has begun. “We're looking into it,” he said. “But we have not filed a permit application yet.”

The actual permit application process is not a simple one, Turner added, and could take months or even a couple of years.

The watershed assessment is one requirement for such an application, and it is not finished yet either. Two wet-weather samplings and two dry-weather samplings have been done, according to Turner, along with a biological assessment.

Still to come are two more wet-weather assessments — one this winter, weather permitting, and another in the spring. Then the city would have to put together a watershed protection plan based on the findings.

When the time comes to apply for extra capacity, Turner says that there will certainly be a great deal of public input on the issue.

“There will be a lot of public hearings,” he said. “I'm not to going to apply for a permit without getting public input so I can get shot down by the EPD.”

Even if no more land is ever annexed into the city, the system will need slightly more capacity in the years ahead, Turner said. Figures as high as six million gallons per day for the city, depending on annexation, have been discussed.

As for the West Village, it can be handled by the Wynnmeade pump station, which was rebuilt within the last couple of years to serve the upcoming Cedarcroft subdivision and apartment complex on Line Creek Parkway. Turner said that when that project was agreed upon, about the time of the city's acquisition of the system from Georgia Utilities and before he became general manager, it was logical to design the station to handle the entire area if necessary.

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