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Fairburn mulls water tap increase

By LINDSAY BIANCHI
lbianchi@thecitizennews.com

With one of the lowest water tap fees in the state of Georgia, the pressure is on to raise the rates and give the city of Fairburn a much needed boost to the ever increasing flow of basic services to new and existing communities.

Although a new rate has not been set, the $500 price tag for water hook-up barely covers the installation of the required meter attached to individual dwellings, city officials said at their Monday night City Council meeting.

City Administrator Jim Williams told the council that “a good average” for such a service is $1,500, three times as much as the current charge.

“The water meter itself costs almost as much as the fee,” Williams said.

In conjunction with this daunting research, a request was put forth to create a water system hydraulic model for the northwest quadrant of the city. The creation of this model is expected to help in future development projects essentially giving a blueprint of what would be needed to keep adjoining neighborhoods from experiencing problems with low water pressure.

Williams explained that in addition to the study there were additional simple solutions that could remedy low water pressure problems, such as linking mains with a single pipe giving out more pressure through out the system.

The price of $28,000 for conducting such a study was unanimously agreed upon by the city council. Although the study will initially cover only the northwest quadrant, it is believed that the resulting figures will be equally helpful in maintaining the quality of water service throughout subsequent neighborhood developments.