Youth baseball, soccer officials OK with plan

Peachtree City’s sewer authority is ready to pump specially-treated sewer water to irrigate fields at the city’s Baseball and Soccer Complex off Ga. Highway 74 south.

The chief advantage of the “urban re-use” water is it will allow the city to avoid the drought restrictions and irrigate the fields on a regular schedule when necessary.

It cost less than $20,000 for the Water and Sewer Authority to install the necessary pump and lines, said WASA General Manager Larry Turner. Because the Rockaway sewer treatment plant is adjacent to the fields, there was no need for right of way acquisition.

In addition to installing the lines, WASA provided the required additional training to employees at the Rockaway plant.

The city still has some work to do in terms of installing signs before the irrigation can begin. The signs must be

It will cost the city an estimated $3,000 a year, as WASA will use the revenues to pay for the capital expenses so the city doesn’t have to.

Previously, the fields were irrigated by water drawn directly from Line Creek, but the recent watering restrictions shut down such use.

The baseball and soccer sports associations have already signed off on the venture and they did so before it was presented to the Peachtree City Council for approval, Turner said.

Local environmentalist Dennis Chase objected to the city’s plans, saying the re-use water will contain viruses unless the city creates a system that allows the water to be exposed to sunlight for five days. Chase noted that kids will come into contact with the grass and thus be exposed to the viruses.

Mayor Harold Logsdon responded saying that the Council had done its homework on the issue and didn’t foresee such a problem occuring.

WASA has been pumping re-use water from its Line Creek plant for use at Planterra Golf Course for several years, Turner noted. The water for the BSC will come from the Rockaway sewer treatment plant, which was built to provide such re-use water, Turner added.