Friday, June 8, 2001
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Friday, June 8, 2001 |
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County gets ready to connect to Atlanta water By JOHN
THOMPSON
Coweta's water users should not have to worry about a lack of water this summer. That's the message the Coweta County Commission delivered Tuesday after hearing about the success of waterline connections with the city of Atlanta. County Administrator Theron Gay told the commission that all contracts had been signed with Atlanta and he is just waiting for the water meters on the west side to be connected. The east side connections are about 45 days from being completed and, when both lines start pumping, Gay said the county will receive at least 2.8 million gallons a day. Commission Chairman Robert Wood praised the staff for getting the water deal finished, and gave an added kudos to Commissioner Vernon "Mutt" Hunter. "When he first told me about this idea, I told him he was crazy," Wood said. When the water lines are connected, Gay said he plans to invite the commission to take part in a ceremony to mark the occasion. The contract between Coweta County and Atlanta also calls for up to 15 million gallons of drinking water per day within five years based on improvements to the Atlanta Water System. The water being purchased from the city of Atlanta will be priced at approximately 90 cents per thousand gallons under an agreed rebate program, which is designed to offer reduced water rates to Coweta County as a means to repay the county for the cost of needed water lines outside the county's borders. After the rebate, the water price is set to be $1.25 per thousand gallons. Newnan Utilities, currently the sole provider of water to the county system, charges $1.45 per thousand gallons. Coweta County's water system currently uses an average of five million gallons of water per day and peaked at approximately nine million gallons during 2000. While the contract with the city of Atlanta provides an immediate boost to the county's available water supply, it is by no means the only avenue being worked on by the Board of Commissioners to provide additional water for the county's system Also in hand is a contract with the city of Griffin to provide up to 10 million gallons of water per day incrementally beginning in 2004-2005, based on completion of new treatment and storage facilities, the release states. Work also is progressing on a treatment facility at the B.T. Brown Reservoir in northwestern Coweta County that will provide between six and eight million gallons per day. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2003.
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