Friday, October 13, 2000
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Friday, October 13, 2000 |
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County to purchase water from Atlanta By JOHN THOMPSON Coweta County took the first step Tuesday toward eliminating any worries about the county's future water supply. Commissioner Lawrence Nelms announced the county had negotiated a deal with the city of Atlanta to provide the county between three million and five million gallons of water a day by next summer. Additionally, Atlanta officials said their excess capacity due to system upgrades in the next five years would eventually enable the county to purchase up to 20 million gallons a day. The county has been criticized by Newnan Utilities and the city of Senoia for not securing a large scale future supply of water for the county's rapid growth, but Nelms said this should end those criticisms. Under the deal with Atlanta, Coweta County would install the water lines to tap into the city's water resources at two connections at the Coweta-Fulton County border. The city has agreed to rebate the cost of water lines needed outside Coweta County through adjustments in water rates. Even with the water from Atlanta, Commission Chairman Vernon "Mutt" Hunter explained the county would still have been under water restrictions this summer. "Those rules are imposed by the state. There's nothing we can do about that," he said. Currently, the county uses about six million gallons of water on a daily basis and nine million on peak days. The added capacity from Atlanta will provide for growth in the county through at least 2020, said County Administrator Theron Gay. "We'll have to be careful not to drown ourself," Nelms said. Nelms made a motion to engage the county's engineering company, Stevenson and Palmer, to perform the services needed to complete the project and for County Attorney Mitch Powell to draft a contract with the city. "Don't let that paper turn yellow on your desk," said Hunter.
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