Peachtree City will pay $41,500 for sewage spills into Line creek this summer, but at least one member of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) advocates paying the fine under protest.

Ted Taylor said the fine to the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources "seems to be counterproductive; why can't we keep that $41,500 to make improvements to our system to keep spills from happening?"

Besides, Taylor added, the spills occurred in Peachtree City because of power outages due to storm damages, "not because we were negligent in running the system." Other requirements of the EPD consent order include steps that the WASA has already put in place, such as 24-hour staffing, power-failure alert systems, and emergency power backup lines or generators.

Taylor's comments drew some boy-don't-we-wish looks from city staffers and other authority members, but the fruitless hope of reapplying the fine was summed up by WASA attorney Doug Warner's half-jesting words.