WASA plans $14.5 million bond issue

Funds needed to increase sewage capacity, retire plant

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

A $14.5 million plan to expand the capacity of Peachtree City's sewer system will be financed with a revenue bond issue in the near future.

Larry Turner, general manager of the Water and Sewerage Authority, said this week that the funds will be needed by late April or early May so the project can begin. Once the work is completed, WASA will have a new administration building, doubled capacity at the Rockaway treatment plant up to 4 million gallons a day and it will be rid of the aging (and costly) Flat Creek treatment plant.

Flat Creek costs over three times as much to treat sewage when compared to the Line Creek and Rockaway plants, which have been improved over the past two years, Turner said. Maintenance costs at the older Flat Creek facility are much higher, he added.

Although the Flat Creek plant will be shut down, the authority plans to continue to use its capacity there, using a new line to pump the allowed 900,000 gallons a day of treated sewage into Flat Creek.

The $14.5 million project also includes a filtering system that will be installed at the Line Creek plant to further treat sewage so it can be piped to the Planterra Ridge Golf Club for irrigation purposes through existing water lines. Two storage ponds will also be built at the Line Creek plant to store this specially-treated water during periods of rain when it won't be needed by the golf club.

The move is expected to create an extra 1.1 million gallons a day capacity into the system during dry periods when Line Creek's water level is lower than normal.

Once all is said and done, the city will end up with a treatment capacity of 6 million gallons a day, compared with the 3.9 million gallons a day it currently averages. Construction is expected to begin in May of next year, ending in January 2004.

The project includes a $1.42 million administration building which would replace the current maintenance facilities and portable administration building currently located at the Flat Creek plant.

The bond issue, which the authority is empowered to enact, will eventually require a raise in sewer rates, Turner said. The rates haven't been raised since 1992, he added.

The authority could act on the bond issue as early as this fall. If that's possible, it would allow for the funds to earn interest and shrink the total bond issue, Turner said.

Proposals are being sought for a financial advisor to assist the authority with preparation of the bond issue, Turner said.

At Saturday's WASA retreat, officials itemized the city's predicted need for wastewater treatment at the buildout stage. That includes:

100,000 gallons for future commercial developments;

500,000 gallons for future residential developments;

300,000 gallons for the service of homes around lakes which are currently on septic systems;

400,000 gallons requested by existing industries;

400,000 gallons for future industrial growth; and

200,000 gallons representing the commitment made to the former Peachtree City Development Corporation (now Pathway Communities) as part of the sewer system's sale to WASA.

The authority had previously committed to provide service to 800 residential units for PCDC as part of that deal, but that included a provision that if the capacity wasn't used after four years, PCDC would have to pay the authority to reserve the capacity. The deadline recently expired and Pathway recently sent its first $10,000 check to WASA to reserve the capacity.

Also included in the capacity calculations is an approximate 5 percent reserve just in case the estimates are off a little, Turner said. He told WASA during the retreat that there are no plans to extend the sewer service beyond the city limits except as it relates to the PCDC commitment.

WASA chairman John Gronner asked how the authority could expand to handle any land the city might annex. Turner replied that urban reuse such as the Planterra Ridge irrigation project would be necessary since the state would not allow more treated sewage to be discharged into Line Creek or Flat Creek.

A similar plan to pump the super-treated sewage to the Braelinn Golf Club will not be funded in this round of projects, but it could be used in the future. Turner said another golf club outside the city limits has expressed an interest in using the program to irrigate its course.

Either project would require the construction of a pipe system to carry the treated wastewater.

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