Peachtree City recreation officials are exploring the possibility of irrigating fields at the Hwy. 74 Baseball and Soccer Complex with specially treated water that’s reclaimed from the city’s sewer system.

An informational meeting on the concept will be held Monday night as part of the regular Recreation Commission meeting, which starts at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall.

The “reuse water” is exempt from the current watering ban, officials noted. Already, the city’s Water and Sewer Authority is sending such water to Planterra Ridge golf course for irrigation purposes.

The panel discussion on the matter will be moderated by Randy Gaddo, the city’s director of leisure services, and two panelists will answer questions from the audience. Susan Lee, water quality engineer at WASA, will explain exactly what urban reuse water is and the process used to purify it; and Curtis Boswell, Georgia’s reuse water coordinator at the state Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources, will talk about regulatory aspects of reuse water and about how other cities around Georgia have fared using it.

The fields at BSC have always been irrigated with water drawn from Line Creek; however, irrigation was suspended per a state-ordered watering ban several weeks ago.

“We’ve actually talked about this with WASA in past years, but didn’t move in that direction because it is a subject generally not well understood by the general public and because there will be some expense involved in getting a pipe line from the Line Creek plant to BSC,” said Gaddo. “However, in light of the drought situation we felt we needed to take a serious look at it.”

Gaddo said that officers and members of the youth baseball and soccer associations, as well as the general public, have been invited to attend the presentation.

“This is strictly an informational session to learn about the subject,” Gaddo said. “We will not be making any decisions about this until we’ve fully researched it.”

To prepare the Line Creek plant to produce reuse water, WASA completed a major upgrade several years ago. A state-of-the-art filtration system was added, along with a higher level of ultraviolet disinfection to replace the old chlorination system.

Other improvements included an in-line turbidity monitor to check water clarity, construction of a line pond for reuse water storage and installation of an automated diversion and electronic monitoring alarm system to alert operators if there are problems and enabling them to divert the water to an alternate holding pond.

For more information call the Recreation Department at 770-631-2542

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