Wednesday, February 21, 2001
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Wednesday, February 21, 2001 |
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Water 'GRTA' idea gets mixed reactions By DAVE
HAMRICK
If the state legislature creates a new regional water commission for metro Atlanta, Fayette County wants to be involved. "I have requested to be on that board," said Greg Dunn, Fayette County Commission chairman. Legislation creating the board would require that the Atlanta Regional Commission appoint the chairmen of ten of the region's 18 county commissions to serve, and Dunn said it's important that Fayette's chairman be one of those. "I have great concerns about how things would work when we regionalize" water management, Dunn said. "I've been told they are going to try to make it less noxious than the GRTA (Georgia Regional Transportation Authority)." A majority of the regional board's members would be elected officials, Dunn said, and that alone is an improvement over the state's transportation superagency. The commission would be charged with overseeing the region's compliance with new federal regulations concerning pollution in storm water runoff, and with handling water quality and quantity issues in the area. Some local leaders are concerned that may mean that counties with adequate water will be forced to share with their neighbors. "I want to make sure that we're there, because we have the best water system in the region," said Dunn. "We've also done a good job of keeping it clean. We have stricter rules on building, etc. "We're mostly in compliance with what they want," he added. "But as water becomes more scarce, we need to be at the table. Fayette residents have invested a lot to have such a good water system, and their investment needs to be protected. If we can achieve that and still be good neighbors, great," he added. State Sen. Greg Hecht of Jonesboro, who represents north Fayette, said this week there is fairly strong support for the legislation in the General Assembly. "Personally, I'm still trying to grasp it all," he said. But most counties and cities are supporting the idea as long as they can have elected representation on the commission. One popular idea behind the commission is to encourage recycling of water resources, he said. "It's probably a good idea for things like golf courses and irrigation," he said. "Well-treated waste water reused as opposed to just totally being lost ... a lot of cities and counties agree that's a very under-utilized concept," he said. But Sen. Mitch Seabaugh of Newnan, who represents south Fayette, said he was concerned about the powers the water committee would have and how members of the committee would be selected. "The language is pretty vague on moving water between districts," Seabaugh said, indicating his concern that the committee could take water from some counties and give it to others. "... Right now, I don't know if it has enough support to pass," Seabaugh said. Another concern of Seabaugh's is how the committee will be funded. The current plan calls for the committee to be funded for the first two years by the state before the counties must fund the initiative, he said. Seabaugh is a Republican, Hecht a Democrat.
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