The Peachtree City Water and Sewerage Authority has avoided financial penalties relating to last year's spills into Lake Peachtree, but the state's Environmental Protection Division has not let them off the hook yet.

An administrative order has been issued by the EPD that gives the city some specific procedures to follow in the next few months, WASA general manager Larry Turner reported at the March 6 WASA public meeting.

The issue is a pair of unpermitted discharges into Lake Peachtree in June of last year. After a standard investigation, EPD issued a consent order that included a $32,000 penalty to be paid by WASA for the incidents.

This was unacceptable to WASA, and after researching other incidents in the metro Atlanta area, Turner reported at a previous meeting that other jurisdictions had sustained much larger spills with far smaller financial repercussions.

WASA and EPD officials met Nov. 3 to discuss the proposed consent order, and WASA agreed to nearly all of the conditions of the order, but suggested an $11,000 penalty. “EPD could not concur with this proposed penalty,” stated a Feb. 24 letter from Department of Natural Resources director Harold Reheis.

An administrative order can be issued unilaterally as long as no financial penalties are included, Turner said. WASA has the right to appeal the financial penalty to the attorney general's office.

The new order says WASA must:

” Submit within 150 days the results of a collection system inspection and evaluation of sewer lines greater than 12 inches in diameter and lift stations located near water bodies designated as community water supply systems;

” Submit within 180 days a list of proposed long-term sewer system rehabilitation work and a schedule of implementation;

” Submit within 240 days, and every 90 days after, a written status report detailing WASA progress toward completion of corrective actions required by this order; and

” Continue major spill sampling requirements by monitoring Lake Peachtree above and below the spill locations for one year.

None of these conditions pose a problem, Turner said, and in fact his office was in the process of implementing most of them already.

WASA has requested a hearing with the attorney general's office, whom Turner said will probably try to mediate or work out a settlement before doing anything else. It could be six months before WASA hears from the attorney general, Turner said.

In other business, WASA has reached an agreement to lease some of its property on Ga. Highway 85 for a local 4-H shooting awareness program.

The lease is for five years, at $24 per year, with Quail Unlimited's Towaliga chapter. The land will be used solely for the 4-H's Shooting Awareness, Fundamentals and Education (SAFE) program, Turner said.

The land consists of 275.7 acres, of which about 150 acres are usable and not wetlands, one mile north of the Ga. Highway 74 intersection on the west side of Hwy. 85. The property came with the sewer system when it was purchased from Georgia Utilities.

Quail Unlimited will hold a $1 million insurance policy as part of the lease agreement, Turner said, and either side can terminate the lease with a 10-day written notice.

The land will probably be declared surplus in the future when WASA expansion plans are finalized.

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