Friday, February 7, 2003
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Friday, February 7, 2003 |
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WASA to ponder 'life' of old water quality test records By JOHN MUNFORD The Peachtree City Water and Sewerage Authority will look into whether it should get rid of its water quality testing records after the three years the agency is required to keep them. WASA member Steve Bradley said at Monday's authority meeting that he worried about environmentalists using the information and using it to sue the authority. But WASA member Mike Harman noted that the documents are public records and would also be available from the state if someone wanted to get them. Currently, the authority has records dating back to its inception six years ago, said WASA General Manager Larry Turner. "We haven't gotten rid of anything," Turner said. Turner said he wanted to consult with authority attorney Mark Oldenburg on the matter before the board made a final decision. The matter came up during a presentation to the authority about the water quality testing records the authority submits to the state each month. Operations manager Susan Johnson said the records sometimes are used to provide historical background information, and she would consider how necessary the records were for those purposes. Earlier in the meeting, Johnson was explaining the testing procedure and how since some tests are related to others it is possible for several permit violations to be recorded in the same month. Turner said WASA recently recorded several permit violations at the Line Creek and Flat Creek wastewater treatment plant for different reasons. The Flat Creek violations occurred because of a heavy rainstorm that the aging facility was unable to handle, while the Line Creek violations were due to a problem from the previous month with a lack of organisms to eat away at the sewage and a clogged clarifier line, Turner said. Johnson said some of the monthly tests will be performed weekly to help monitor the problems and keep them from occurring again. Turner also noted that the cost per gallon to treat sewage at the Flat Creek plant are high and the authority will be better off once the sewer treatment expansion program is complete which will allow the Flat Creek plant to be closed permanently. The Flat Creek treatment facility was originally designed to be a temporary one, officials noted. "Shutting down Flat Creek is going to be the greatest thing we can do," Turner told the authority.
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