The Peachtree City Water and Sewerage Authority is expected to hear an update on its permitting status at Monday night's regular meeting, amid recent talk by some citizens of possible expansion of the system relating to annexation.

The Authority has a standard five-year permit that regulates how much volume can be treated by the city — currently about 4.9 million gallons per day.

That permit is up for renewal, and Turner said the city's current request is to simply renew with no change as to capacity.

An official with the Water Protection Branch of the state's Environmental Protection Division confirmed that the request is a standard renewal, and there has been no request to increase capacity.

General manager Larry Turner has stated on more than one occasion that the system will eventually need to be expanded somewhat, but the process of actually getting state approval for that is still in the distant future.

Turner also has been careful not to get into the annexation discussion in any way, saying only that water and sewer capacity will one day need to be increased regardless of annexation.

In recent months, opponents of annexation have often cited increased density due to availability of sewerage as reasons to stop annexation. Local environmentalist Dennis Chase of the Line Creek Association wrote extensively on the issue last week in The Citizen.

That issue would appear to be dead, at least for the time being. The City Council heard a proposal from a group of property owners in the West Village at the Jan. 20 meeting but voted not to lift the current annexation moratorium in the city.

As for enlarging the sewer system, Turner said there will be no specific recommendations at Monday's meeting, but rather an outline of where the city is on its permit status so that the board can stay properly informed.

Turner added that the Line Creek treatment plant needs to be replaced, having been built 35 years ago as a temporary facility. It costs about twice as much to operate as newer plants do, he said, mainly because of lower flow capability.

If the authority decides at some point to expand, it would make economic sense to do so in conjunction with projects such as updating the Line Creek facility, Turner said. There will be a certain number of fixed costs involved whether the city adds 100,000 gallons of capacity or a million gallons, he added.

Also on Monday's agenda is a discussion of the Line Creek entrance road on the back side of Falcon Field. Turner said that the airport has approached the authority about possibly sharing in the expense of paving that road and using it in the future for its own expansion.

The entire road is on the east side of Line Creek and sits entirely in Fayette County.

“That road can get rough at times,” Turner said.

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