By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

The lack of rain this summer is taking its toll on the local water supply, but so far the situation is not critical.

The city of Fayetteville last week shut down its Whitewater Creek water intake because the level in the creek is too low. Lake Bennett, just north of the city's intake, has suddenly run dry, a situation that has baffled local and state officials (see related story).

The city is buying water from Fayette County to replace the 700,000 gallons a day it normally withdraws from Whitewater, about 55 percent of what city residents use.

Fayette County also has had to shut down its intake of water from local rivers and streams, but is still able to supply water needs to local residents from its Lake Horton, Lake Peachtree and Starr's Mill Pond reservoirs.

Fayetteville's Whitewater Creek intake feeds directly into its treatment plant with no reservoir to store water, and thus the plant cannot operate.

“Until we get a significant amount of rain, we won't be able to start it back up,” said city water system director Rick Eastin. Under its permit with the state Department of Natural Resources, the city must maintain at least two million gallons of water per day flowing downstream of its drinking water intake.

Workers routinely check the water level each morning before starting up the city's water treatment plant on First Manassas Mile Road. When they did so last Monday morning, the level was below the required two mgd, said Eastin.

“If we were to crank up the water plant right now, we'd dry up the swamp,” said Eastin, referring to a wetland south of the city's intake, which is just off Ga. Highway 54.

Still farther south, Whitewater Creek feeds Starr's Mill Pond, which provides some of Fayette County's drinking water, but so far the pond is still providing water, said county water director Tony Parrott.

Several tributaries, including Ginger Cake Creek, feed Whitewater south of Fayetteville's intake, said Eastin. Also, the city daily discharges between 1.2 million and 1.5 million gallons of treated sewage into the creek south of the city, he said.

But don't worry about the quality of the water, Eastin said. “The water we're putting into the creek is better than what's there already,” he said.

The city has not enacted any special watering restrictions, other than the odd-even restrictions that Fayette County always operates under. Outside watering is allowed at residences with odd-numbered addresses on odd-numbered dates, and vice versa.

“They're comfortable with that right now, and we'll mirror whatever they do,” said Eastin.

It's the near future that worries Eastin. “We're going into our historically dry season, and we're already out of water,” he said.

Rainfall for 1999 already is running about 10 inches below normal, according to the National Weather Service, and September through November are usually the driest months of the year. To get the water plant cranked up again, Whitewater Creek needs a lot of rain, Eastin said. “It can't just be a big thundershower here or there either,” he added. “We need a good 15 inches.”

Fayette County's Parrott said he believes the local drinking water supply will remain adequate as long as people continue to observe the odd-even watering restrictions.

“Most of the people are watering like they're supposed to,” he said. “If everybody just helps out that way, we're all right.”

The Lake Horton Reservoir is down about a foot, and the county no longer is pumping water into the lake from the Flint River, he said, but the lake's supply is huge. “You're talking about three and a half billion gallons of water,” he said.

Even the occasional rain helps the county's situation, said Parrott. “That rain we had [in late August] dropped water usage five million gallons for that day,” he said.

The county buys about 16 percent of its water from the city of Atlanta. Fayetteville currently is paying Fayette for the 55 percent of its water normally supplied from Whitewater Creek. The remainder is supplied by the city's deep wells.