The South Fulton Municipal/Regional Water and Sewer Authority is moving forward with plans to construct Bear Creek Reservoir, a project that would supply future drinking water to Union City, Palmetto and Fairburn. A May 9 presentation of the Regulatory Task Schedule related to mitigation plans involving property purchased from a single land owner or from multiple land owners was the only issue addressed in open session.

The authority met for four minutes and, having no new business or old business on the agenda, went in to executive session to discuss two two land acquisition matters and one legal issue. It was after Executive Session that Covington attorney Tommy Craig presented the mitigation timetable associated with the Regulatory Task Schedule.

Craig presented separate timetables for mitigation if the reservoir property were purchased from a single landowner or from multiple landowners. Regardless the method of acquisition, the process is expected to be completed in early to mid-2008, he said. The schedule timetable includes a number of components such as the various provisions pertaining to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) Withdrawal Permit, the 404-Permit pre-filing asks, a pre-engineering plan, the development of a mitigation plan and alternate analysis and numerous permit post-filing tasks.

Not mentioned during the meeting was an Apr. 3 letter from Atlanta Dept. of Watershed Management Commissioner Robert Hunter to Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s (EPD) Water Resources Department. The letter was a response to EPD’s inquiry into Atlanta’s position on the Bear Creek Reservoir proposal. Citing a number of issues, Hunter cited the city’s strong opposition to the South Fulton project, concluding that “the (Bear Creek) reservoir is not needed and is the inferior proposal in terms of customer costs, regional water supply management and the environment.”

Though clear throughout the letter that Atlanta believed it would be on the losing end of supplying drinking water in the rapidly growing South Fulton area if the Bear Creek Reservoir were constructed, the letter cited what Atlanta considered a significantly better option of utilizing the proposed Bellwood Quarry on Atlanta’s west side near the Bankhead MARTA station. Regarding the characteristics of both reservoir sites, Hunter said Bellwood would contain a volume of 5,831 acre-feet with a surface area of 36 acres compared to Bear Creek’s 1,893 acre-feet and and 310-acre surface area. Citing other characteristics, Hunter said the maximum depth of Bellwood exceeded 300 feet while the maximum at Bear Creek would be 25 feet, adding that the average depth at Bellwood would be 164 feet compared to 6.1 feet at Bear Creek. In terms of evaporation, Bear Creek would lose 1,421 acre-feet per year, 75 percent of its capacity, compared to a loss of 163 acre-feet at Bellwood, or three percent of its capacity.

South Fulton Municipal/Regional Water and Sewer Authority was created by the General Assembly in 2000 to address future water and sewer needs of the cities of Union City, Fairburn and Palmetto. The seven-member board is comprised of elected and appointed representatives from each of the cities.