Written 2/22/2007
Commissioners Given Options for Future Water Needs
The Oconee County Board of Commissions received three alternative proposals at its meeting Tuesday night to the two $100 million reservoir projects already under review.
I also presented to the commissioners my analysis of water demand, which shows that the County’s estimates almost certainly significantly overestimate water demand.
About 70 people attended the meeting at the courthouse, which lasted about 90 minutes and ended without any decision by the Board.
Ken McMichael, a member of the Jasper County Water and Sewer Authority, invited the Commissioners to partner with his county in a project on the South River. Jasper County is southeast of Atlanta.
Oconee County resident John Washington, an expert on subsurface water, recommended that the County consider drilling additional wells to tap available water.
Trey Thompson, another Oconee County resident, briefed the Commissioners on a proposed reservoir on Jack’s Creek in Walton County. Jack’s Creek flows to the Apalachee near southern part of Oconee County.
All three of these alternative sources would provide Oconee County with water at a much cheaper rate than either of the two reservoirs the County is considering, according to the presenters.
The consultant Oconee County hired to review water options, Jordan Jones & Goulding, recommended the County either build a reservoir in the County on Barnett Shoals road or join with Walter County in a reservoir project on Hard Labor Creek. Both projects would cost more than $100 million in 2007 dollars.
Three of those who spoke on Tuesday night, including Oconee County Chamber of Commerce President Charles Grimes, applauded the Commissioners for seeking additional water to accommodate future growth of the County. None recommended a specific project.
No one who spoke at the meeting criticized the County for being concerned about future water needs. Critics challenged the idea that the decision had to be made urgently.
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis said at an earlier hearing on water on January 17 that the County needed to make a decision quickly because Walton County wanted an answer to its request that Oconee partner with it.
The Walton project has been plagued by controversy. McMichael referred to it as a "real estate project" rather than a water reservoir on Tuesday night. Thompson provided the Commissioners with a letter from retired president and founder of Jordan Jones & Goulding, Charles Jones, criticizing the reservoir.
Thompson also gave the Commissioners letters from the city manager of Social Circle and the city manager of Loganville raising questions about the cost of water from the Walton reservoir and expressing interest in a Jack’s Creek option. Both cities are in Walton County.
I summarized for the Commissioners my analysis of population growth, which shows that the County’s estimates of growth are more than likely high by about 29,000 persons. Oconee County had only 29,748 persons living here in 2005, according to the Census Bureau estimates.
My analysis is in my posting below of 2/18/2007.
At the meeting on Tuesday night night, Commissioner Jim Luke asked me if my projections took into consideration that most of the people moving to the County would be using County water.
In fact, my projections assume everyone moving to the County would be using County water. I do not believe that is a correct assumption, since the County has said not all parts of the County will have water service in the near future. But it is the assumption the County has made in its projections, and I followed that lead.
In justifying its argument that there is urgency, the County used population projections for growth in each of the next five year periods (2005 to 2010, 2010 to 2015, and 2015 to 2020) at 30.65%. My argument is that a much more reasonable estimate is 13.43%, which reflects estimated growth over the last five years.
The 30.65% rate would mean that the population of the County would be 67,065 in 2015, or more than double what it was in 2005.
I then used the more reasonable growth rate of 13.43% and multiplied it by the current water use of 2.7 million gallons per day. From that, I reach an estimate of needed water at 3.1 MGD in 2010, 3.5 MGD in 2015, and 4.0 MGD in 2020.
This was exactly the same procedure used in creating the Water Supply/Demand Projections by the County. The County started with 2.7 MGD of water being used currently and use the growth rate of 30.65% to get its estimates, namely 3.5 MGD in 2010, 4.6 MGD in 2015, and 6.0 MGD in 2020.
So my assumption, which I think even exaggerates use, was exactly the same as the one the County used.
Commissioner Luke next asked me if I took into consideration industrial use. My answer is that the County will have 6 MGD of water starting in 2014 or 2015, and in 2020 the County will have a demand for only 4 MGD.
If we add in the 1 MGD from the Rocky Branch sewage plant, which the County says will be in the system (as reuse water to replace lawn watering), the County actually will have 7 MGD of water.
The largest likely industrial user would be one at the Orkin tract at SR 316 and US 78. Utility Department Director Gary Dodd said on Tuesday night that had the pharmaceutical firm Novartis located its plant at the site, as the County had hoped it would, at the end of its fifth and final stage of projected growth, it would have needed 1 MGD. It would have needed only 200,000 gallons per day at start-up.
Mr. Luke also asked me if I took into consideration growth rates for water usage. Mr. Dodd is quoted in The Oconee Leader issue of February 15, 2007, as saying the County is experiencing growth rates of 6-7 percent per year in water usage.
The County’s consultants apparently did not believe this figure, for they did not use it in their projections.
Commissioner Luke told me after the meeting that he also believed the County’s population estimates were exaggerated. He said his concern was with industrial and commercial growth.
The population estimates are important, however, as they are the basis for projections on how the County will pay off the debt for whatever project it selects.
According to stories in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Athens Banner-Herald on July 19, 2006, when the state announced Novartis was not coming to the Orkin tract, the state and local governments had offered $61 million in incentives to the firm to get it to locate here.
Of that amount, $20 million was for local tax breaks. Oconee and Clarke counties also offered incentives in terms of water, sewage and roads.
Russ Page, a local farmer who has worked to protect farmland in the County, reminded the Commissioners on Tuesday night that a growing population not only needs more water. It needs more of almost every kind of service, including roads, sewers and schools.
If the County decides to spend more than $100 million on a reservoir, it is only the beginning, because the only way to pay for the project is to make sure the County grows enough to keep up with the projections that were used to justify it.
That, in turn, will require more spending on roads, sewers, schools, and other services. The list goes on.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Written 2/18/2007
County Uses Inflated Population Figures to Justify Water Needs
Oconee County officials, in an effort to justify spending more than $100 million on a new reservoir, are using population growth estimates for the County that are certainly too high.
If the County estimates were correct, 37,317 more people would be living in Oconee County in 2015 than lived here in 2005, bringing the total population for the County to 67,065. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that 29,748 lived here in 2005.
A more likely figure for 2015, based on the estimated rate of growth in the County since 2000, is 38,275. From 2000 to 2005, the Census Bureau estimates that the population of Oconee County grew 13.43%.
If that same growth rate is used to calculate the rate of growth in water demand–which seems reasonable given that Oconee County has almost no industrial users–Oconee County would need 3.1 million gallons of water per day in 2010 and 3.5 million gallons of water per day in 2015.
The County will have 6 million gallons of water per day available to it in 2015, or nearly two times as much as it needs. In 2020, supply would exceed demand by 2 million gallons per day.
The County is using only about 2.7 million gallons per day of water at present.
The County, by using the much higher estimate of population growth, has projected that Oconee County’s demand for water will equal the supply in 2020. This is the justification for proposing that the County spend more than $100 million for one of two reservoir projects, one in Walton County and the other in Oconee County.
The County also is using the high population growth and demand figures to argue that it can afford to pay off the debt associated with these new projects. If the population figure are wrong–as they almost certainly are–the projections about the County’s ability to pay for the $100 million reservoirs are wrong as well.
The consequence for the County could be significant.
The estimates of population growth I’ve calculated for the 2000 to 2005 period are based on data the County put on its web site after the February 8 meeting on the proposed reservoirs. I also have gone back to the original source–the U.S. Census Bureau–to make sure the data are correct and to obtain additional information.
The high end estimates of population growth the County is using to justify the reservoir projects are shown on the County’s web site.
Russ Page, who has been active with a number of citizen groups, including Friends of Barber Creek, challenged the County on the population growth estimates at the first meeting on the reservoirs the County held on January 17, 2007. Russ said he thought the growth projections, which come from Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center, located in Athens, already have proven to be inaccurate.
William Martello, with County consulting firm Jordan Jones & Goulding, said the RDC provides three population projections, offering low, moderate and high estimates. He said the County was using the high projections because it did not want to underestimate demand.
The data on the County web site show that the low population estimate for 2005 was about 5,000 people below the Census Bureau estimate for the County that year, while the moderate estimate was about 1,400 higher than the 2005 figure. The high estimate, however, overestimated the County’s population by 9,500.
The reason for the projection error is simple. Both the moderate and high estimates are based on percentage increases in population in the County when it had very few people. Consequently, the addition of even a small number of people represented a large percentage of growth. As the population base has increased, the addition of new residents has represented smaller percentage growth rates.
In 1990, the Census Bureau counted 17,618 persons living in Oconee County. In 2000, the count was 26,225, an increase of 8,607 people, and a growth rate of 48.9%. If that same number of people is added to the County by 2010, the population would be 34,832, for a growth of 32.8%.
If this growth rate of 32.8% is used rather than my estimate above, the population of Oconee County in 2015 still would be below the moderate estimate and significantly below the high estimate the County is using to project water needs.
The Census Bureau estimated of the Oconee County population for 2005 based on birth rates, death rates, and estimates of migration to the County. The population estimates for larger counties also include new field sample data. Oconee County does not qualify for this kind of additional data, but neighboring Clarke does.
Since the Census Bureau makes new estimates for counties each year, it is possible to compare projected growth for each year from 2000 to 2005, the most recent data for which estimates are available. Growth rates actually were slightly lower in 2005 and 2004 than in 2003, but, in all three years, they round to 3%.
There is no evidence of dramatic change in growth rates in recent years, and there is evidence that the rate can decline year-to-year. The slowdown in the housing market at present might well result in a decline in the growth rate.
The population estimates, of course, are for the whole County, but only part of the County is provided water by the County Utility Department. At the January 17 meeting, one member of the audience asked if the County took this into consideration in making the projections. The answer was that it did not. The data the County put on the web site also do not reflect this fact.
The County has stated, in responses on the web site to questions posed at the February 8 meeting, that it does not plan to offer water in the future to the southern part of the County.
Consequently, the estimates of demand for water used by the County and used by me above exaggerate the actual demand.
These estimates of growth, as noted, are tied to estimates of income from water the County sells to its customers. In an article in the February 15, 2007, issue of The Oconee Leader, the County said it is projecting growth of 6 to 7 percent (presumably per year) in its customer base in making calculations of the County’s ability to pay for the proposed reservoirs.
Such a figure, as indicated above, would be more than twice the rate of population growth in the County in recent years.
The County, on the web site, indicated it has approximately 7,800 customers at present.
The County web site also contains a number of other surprises. Despite the lower price tag for a reservoir on Jack’s Creek than the other two projects, the County says the Jack’s Creek site exceeds "affordability," while the others do not.
The County also labels suggestions that it integrate planning for its wastewater treatment facility and drinking water treatment facility as a "toilet to faucet" proposal. The proposed wastewater plant on Rocky Branch road will produce 1 million gallons per day of water treated to "reuse" standards.
Friends of Barber Creek has asked the state Environment Protection Division to require the County to treat the water to drinking level standards. The County plans to sell the "reuse" water for use in lawn and other irrigation as an alternative to fully treated water. As a consequence, it should be subtracted from the estimates of the County’s need for water.
Go to http://www.oconeecounty.net/ and click on Oconee County Future Water Sources Information for details of the County’s case for its new reservoirs.
Please write to your Commissioners and tell them how you feel about the proposed reservoirs. The contact information is below:
Melvin Davis, mdavis@oconee.ga.us
Jim Luke, jluke@oconee.ga.us
Don Norris, dnorris@oconee.ga.us
Margaret Hale, mshale@oconee.ga.us
Chuck Horton, chorton@oconee.ga.us
And please attend the meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at the Courthouse in Watkinsville.
County Uses Inflated Population Figures to Justify Water Needs
Oconee County officials, in an effort to justify spending more than $100 million on a new reservoir, are using population growth estimates for the County that are certainly too high.
If the County estimates were correct, 37,317 more people would be living in Oconee County in 2015 than lived here in 2005, bringing the total population for the County to 67,065. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that 29,748 lived here in 2005.
A more likely figure for 2015, based on the estimated rate of growth in the County since 2000, is 38,275. From 2000 to 2005, the Census Bureau estimates that the population of Oconee County grew 13.43%.
If that same growth rate is used to calculate the rate of growth in water demand–which seems reasonable given that Oconee County has almost no industrial users–Oconee County would need 3.1 million gallons of water per day in 2010 and 3.5 million gallons of water per day in 2015.
The County will have 6 million gallons of water per day available to it in 2015, or nearly two times as much as it needs. In 2020, supply would exceed demand by 2 million gallons per day.
The County is using only about 2.7 million gallons per day of water at present.
The County, by using the much higher estimate of population growth, has projected that Oconee County’s demand for water will equal the supply in 2020. This is the justification for proposing that the County spend more than $100 million for one of two reservoir projects, one in Walton County and the other in Oconee County.
The County also is using the high population growth and demand figures to argue that it can afford to pay off the debt associated with these new projects. If the population figure are wrong–as they almost certainly are–the projections about the County’s ability to pay for the $100 million reservoirs are wrong as well.
The consequence for the County could be significant.
The estimates of population growth I’ve calculated for the 2000 to 2005 period are based on data the County put on its web site after the February 8 meeting on the proposed reservoirs. I also have gone back to the original source–the U.S. Census Bureau–to make sure the data are correct and to obtain additional information.
The high end estimates of population growth the County is using to justify the reservoir projects are shown on the County’s web site.
Russ Page, who has been active with a number of citizen groups, including Friends of Barber Creek, challenged the County on the population growth estimates at the first meeting on the reservoirs the County held on January 17, 2007. Russ said he thought the growth projections, which come from Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center, located in Athens, already have proven to be inaccurate.
William Martello, with County consulting firm Jordan Jones & Goulding, said the RDC provides three population projections, offering low, moderate and high estimates. He said the County was using the high projections because it did not want to underestimate demand.
The data on the County web site show that the low population estimate for 2005 was about 5,000 people below the Census Bureau estimate for the County that year, while the moderate estimate was about 1,400 higher than the 2005 figure. The high estimate, however, overestimated the County’s population by 9,500.
The reason for the projection error is simple. Both the moderate and high estimates are based on percentage increases in population in the County when it had very few people. Consequently, the addition of even a small number of people represented a large percentage of growth. As the population base has increased, the addition of new residents has represented smaller percentage growth rates.
In 1990, the Census Bureau counted 17,618 persons living in Oconee County. In 2000, the count was 26,225, an increase of 8,607 people, and a growth rate of 48.9%. If that same number of people is added to the County by 2010, the population would be 34,832, for a growth of 32.8%.
If this growth rate of 32.8% is used rather than my estimate above, the population of Oconee County in 2015 still would be below the moderate estimate and significantly below the high estimate the County is using to project water needs.
The Census Bureau estimated of the Oconee County population for 2005 based on birth rates, death rates, and estimates of migration to the County. The population estimates for larger counties also include new field sample data. Oconee County does not qualify for this kind of additional data, but neighboring Clarke does.
Since the Census Bureau makes new estimates for counties each year, it is possible to compare projected growth for each year from 2000 to 2005, the most recent data for which estimates are available. Growth rates actually were slightly lower in 2005 and 2004 than in 2003, but, in all three years, they round to 3%.
There is no evidence of dramatic change in growth rates in recent years, and there is evidence that the rate can decline year-to-year. The slowdown in the housing market at present might well result in a decline in the growth rate.
The population estimates, of course, are for the whole County, but only part of the County is provided water by the County Utility Department. At the January 17 meeting, one member of the audience asked if the County took this into consideration in making the projections. The answer was that it did not. The data the County put on the web site also do not reflect this fact.
The County has stated, in responses on the web site to questions posed at the February 8 meeting, that it does not plan to offer water in the future to the southern part of the County.
Consequently, the estimates of demand for water used by the County and used by me above exaggerate the actual demand.
These estimates of growth, as noted, are tied to estimates of income from water the County sells to its customers. In an article in the February 15, 2007, issue of The Oconee Leader, the County said it is projecting growth of 6 to 7 percent (presumably per year) in its customer base in making calculations of the County’s ability to pay for the proposed reservoirs.
Such a figure, as indicated above, would be more than twice the rate of population growth in the County in recent years.
The County, on the web site, indicated it has approximately 7,800 customers at present.
The County web site also contains a number of other surprises. Despite the lower price tag for a reservoir on Jack’s Creek than the other two projects, the County says the Jack’s Creek site exceeds "affordability," while the others do not.
The County also labels suggestions that it integrate planning for its wastewater treatment facility and drinking water treatment facility as a "toilet to faucet" proposal. The proposed wastewater plant on Rocky Branch road will produce 1 million gallons per day of water treated to "reuse" standards.
Friends of Barber Creek has asked the state Environment Protection Division to require the County to treat the water to drinking level standards. The County plans to sell the "reuse" water for use in lawn and other irrigation as an alternative to fully treated water. As a consequence, it should be subtracted from the estimates of the County’s need for water.
Go to http://www.oconeecounty.net/ and click on Oconee County Future Water Sources Information for details of the County’s case for its new reservoirs.
Please write to your Commissioners and tell them how you feel about the proposed reservoirs. The contact information is below:
Melvin Davis, mdavis@oconee.ga.us
Jim Luke, jluke@oconee.ga.us
Don Norris, dnorris@oconee.ga.us
Margaret Hale, mshale@oconee.ga.us
Chuck Horton, chorton@oconee.ga.us
And please attend the meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at the Courthouse in Watkinsville.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Written 2/15/2007
Most Important Decision Since 2002
No other decision the Oconee County Board of Commissioners has made since it decided to begin offering residential sewage service in late 2002 is likely to be as important as the decision the Board will be considering on Tuesday, February 20.
At that meeting, the Board, it now appears, will be asked to join Walton County in a reservoir project on Hard Labor Creek that will cost more than $100 million in 2007 dollars.
The 2002 decision on sewers has led to the hyperdevelopment now taking place in the County, with the 900-home Parkside master plan development project now coming online a prime example. Parkside, which lies between Mars Hill and Hog Mountain roads, will funnel even more traffic onto those already stressed thoroughfares and send more students to overcrowded schools.
A decision to spend more than $100 million on a reservoir will spur more development, probably along U.S. 441, since the corridor between Hog Mountain Road and SR 316 now is nearly built out. This new development, in turn, will further stress County resources, such as the schools, the sheriff’s office and the volunteer fire service.
Huge infrastructure projects such as the planned sewage plant on Rocky Branch Road and the reservoir are billed as a response to development, but they are actually the cause of it. In order to pay for the sewers, the County passed a master plan development ordinance to encourage high-density development.
I remember a conversation I had with Wayne Provost, then head of planning in the County and now director of strategic and long-range planning, when the MPD was being discussed. "Not everyone wants a house with a three-quarter acre lot," he said. The County needed to allow higher density projects in order to continue to develop, the argument went.
The sewers were to spur development, not respond to it.
In order to pay for the water reservoir to be discussed on Tuesday night, the County will have to run water to parts of the County not presently served, such as to the south along U.S. 441. The water lines will be to encourage future development, since only with such development will the County be able to pay for the reservoir.
County officials don’t like to talk about infrastructure development in this way. They always say development is inevitable and they must respond to it. My guess is they know most people are not in favor of the break-neck pace of development they have brought to the County.
Elected officials also know that few voters like tax increases, which infrastructure projects usually require.
At the January 17 meeting held to discuss water options, no one could–or would--answer questions about how the projects would be financed. In an article in the February 15 edition of The Oconee Leader, Board Chairman Melvin Davis offered only options, including the spending of special interest tax revenues, rather than a specific plan.
A glance around the County gives a sense of how quickly tax revenues are being spent. We have a new jail under construction. A new recreational facility is in the works. If the County gets its permit to begin dumping treated sewage water into Barber Creek, it will begin construction of a new sewage plant.
The February 15 issue of the Athens Banner-Herald indicates that the County may be asking for tax increases in the future to spend on much needed road improvements.
To lessen the burden on those of us already living here, County officials will encourage construction of even more residential units, even though residential development does not produce tax revenue sufficient to offset its demand for services.
The cycle will then continue. The increase in water coming into the County will bring about the need for larger sewage plants and more roads and more schools and more jails and a larger courthouse and bigger roads. And more sewage water being dumped into such streams as Barber Creek.
The irony is that most of us moved to Oconee County in the hopes that some of the rural character and quality of life that brought us here would be retained.
Melvin Davis, who is both the chief County executive and chairman of the legislative body, the Board of Commissioners, is the one pushing for a decision now on the reservoir project. In fact, he has been the chief advocate for most of the development projects in the County. The article in The Leader makes it clear he wants the Board of Commissioners to join the Hard Labor Creek reservoir project in Walton County.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the four members of the Commission told him it was time to slow down, consider all the options, examine some of the smaller reservoir projects on the table, and give some serious thought to water conservation?
I urge you to write to the Commissioners immediately and encourage them to show some independence. One option would be for them to appoint a citizen group to review the different reservoir plans. The County at present is relying on the advice of consultants who stand to gain most from big projects.
Here is the contact information for the Commissioners:
Jim Luke, jluke@oconee.ga.us
Don Norris, dnorris@oconee.ga.us
Margaret Hale, mshale@oconee.ga.us
Chuck Horton, chorton@oconee.ga.us.
If at all possible, attend the meeting on the 20th and tell the Commissioners how you feel about the pace of development in the County and the need for a go-slow approach to such a mammoth project. Bring a neighbor or two if you can. The meeting starts at 7 p.m.
Most Important Decision Since 2002
No other decision the Oconee County Board of Commissioners has made since it decided to begin offering residential sewage service in late 2002 is likely to be as important as the decision the Board will be considering on Tuesday, February 20.
At that meeting, the Board, it now appears, will be asked to join Walton County in a reservoir project on Hard Labor Creek that will cost more than $100 million in 2007 dollars.
The 2002 decision on sewers has led to the hyperdevelopment now taking place in the County, with the 900-home Parkside master plan development project now coming online a prime example. Parkside, which lies between Mars Hill and Hog Mountain roads, will funnel even more traffic onto those already stressed thoroughfares and send more students to overcrowded schools.
A decision to spend more than $100 million on a reservoir will spur more development, probably along U.S. 441, since the corridor between Hog Mountain Road and SR 316 now is nearly built out. This new development, in turn, will further stress County resources, such as the schools, the sheriff’s office and the volunteer fire service.
Huge infrastructure projects such as the planned sewage plant on Rocky Branch Road and the reservoir are billed as a response to development, but they are actually the cause of it. In order to pay for the sewers, the County passed a master plan development ordinance to encourage high-density development.
I remember a conversation I had with Wayne Provost, then head of planning in the County and now director of strategic and long-range planning, when the MPD was being discussed. "Not everyone wants a house with a three-quarter acre lot," he said. The County needed to allow higher density projects in order to continue to develop, the argument went.
The sewers were to spur development, not respond to it.
In order to pay for the water reservoir to be discussed on Tuesday night, the County will have to run water to parts of the County not presently served, such as to the south along U.S. 441. The water lines will be to encourage future development, since only with such development will the County be able to pay for the reservoir.
County officials don’t like to talk about infrastructure development in this way. They always say development is inevitable and they must respond to it. My guess is they know most people are not in favor of the break-neck pace of development they have brought to the County.
Elected officials also know that few voters like tax increases, which infrastructure projects usually require.
At the January 17 meeting held to discuss water options, no one could–or would--answer questions about how the projects would be financed. In an article in the February 15 edition of The Oconee Leader, Board Chairman Melvin Davis offered only options, including the spending of special interest tax revenues, rather than a specific plan.
A glance around the County gives a sense of how quickly tax revenues are being spent. We have a new jail under construction. A new recreational facility is in the works. If the County gets its permit to begin dumping treated sewage water into Barber Creek, it will begin construction of a new sewage plant.
The February 15 issue of the Athens Banner-Herald indicates that the County may be asking for tax increases in the future to spend on much needed road improvements.
To lessen the burden on those of us already living here, County officials will encourage construction of even more residential units, even though residential development does not produce tax revenue sufficient to offset its demand for services.
The cycle will then continue. The increase in water coming into the County will bring about the need for larger sewage plants and more roads and more schools and more jails and a larger courthouse and bigger roads. And more sewage water being dumped into such streams as Barber Creek.
The irony is that most of us moved to Oconee County in the hopes that some of the rural character and quality of life that brought us here would be retained.
Melvin Davis, who is both the chief County executive and chairman of the legislative body, the Board of Commissioners, is the one pushing for a decision now on the reservoir project. In fact, he has been the chief advocate for most of the development projects in the County. The article in The Leader makes it clear he wants the Board of Commissioners to join the Hard Labor Creek reservoir project in Walton County.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the four members of the Commission told him it was time to slow down, consider all the options, examine some of the smaller reservoir projects on the table, and give some serious thought to water conservation?
I urge you to write to the Commissioners immediately and encourage them to show some independence. One option would be for them to appoint a citizen group to review the different reservoir plans. The County at present is relying on the advice of consultants who stand to gain most from big projects.
Here is the contact information for the Commissioners:
Jim Luke, jluke@oconee.ga.us
Don Norris, dnorris@oconee.ga.us
Margaret Hale, mshale@oconee.ga.us
Chuck Horton, chorton@oconee.ga.us.
If at all possible, attend the meeting on the 20th and tell the Commissioners how you feel about the pace of development in the County and the need for a go-slow approach to such a mammoth project. Bring a neighbor or two if you can. The meeting starts at 7 p.m.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Written 1/30/2007
Psst! Wanna buy some sewage water?
It’s not fit to drink or touch, but it is cheap!
Psst! Wanna buy some sewage water?
It’s not fit to drink or touch, but it is cheap!
Oconee County plans to charge customers who use treated sewage water from its Rocky Branch waste treatment plant, rather than give the water away, officials said at the January 17 meeting called to discuss the County’s plans for water reservoirs.
The County will maintain separate meters for use of the treated sewage water and plans to recover some of the costs of pumping the water to customers through a usage fee.
Wayne Provost, the director of strategic and long-range planning for the County, made the announcement about fees for use of the sewage water in response to a question at the meeting. Utility Director Gary Dodd elaborated.
"There will be a minimal charge for the reuse water because it is being pumped, it is being piped, it is being metered to those homes or facilities that are using it, so there has to be a charge," Mr. Dodd said.
The County did not mention plans to charge for use of the sewage plant effluent at either the March 14, 2006, or December 12, 2006, public hearings on the proposed upgrade of the Rocky Branch Plant.
Developers are running separate water lines, one for drinking water and the other for treated sewage water, in some subdivisions, such as the mammoth Parkside with its nearly 900 home sites. The reuse water is to be used for fertilizing lawns.
The County ordinance, passed in March of 2005, stipulates that reuse water should NOT be used for the following: "drinking, food preparation, hand washing, automobile washing, or irrigation of fruits and vegetables."
EPD regulations specifically recommends against any use that brings the treated water into contact with the skin and prohibits the use of the water for consumption by humans or animals, sprinkling of edible crops, body contact recreation, or filling of swimming pools.
At the December 12 hearing, an EPD officer said the EPD recommended anyone who touches the reuse water wash his or her hands before touching anything else.
At the January 17 discussion of reservoirs, the County touted the scheme to distribute reuse quality water as a cost-saver. Rather than treat the water from the sewage plants to drinking level quality, which is technologically possible, the County will save money by treating it to a lesser standard.
By using the treated sewage water, rather than drinking water, for watering lawns, the customers will save both themselves and the County money.
It is an open question whether people living in the subdivisions will choose to use the treated sewage water rather than drinking water, even if it saves them some money. It is common for children and pets to play in sprinklers and for customers to water both their vegetable gardens and fruit trees when they water their lawns.
Privately, County officials have recognized that a reuse market for the water may not develop quickly. In an email message Mr. Dodd wrote to Jim Sunta of Precision Planning on December 20, 2005, he said "I agree with your assumption that the reuse customer base will be slow to develop."
If the reuse market doesn’t materialize, the effluent of Rocky Branch sewage plant will be dumped into Barber Creek, if the County is given a permit to do that by the state Environmental Protection Division. That permit is pending.
The County also has not openly discussed other costs associated with the plan to develop the reuse market. While some developers are being encouraged to build the dual distribution system, when the developers complete their subdivisions, they will turn over the infrastructure, including the two water distribution systems, to the County for future maintenance.
The cost of maintaining dual distribution and metering systems has not been discussed at the two public hearings.
The promotion of use of the treated sewage water for irrigation also is at odds with current EPD plans to encourage water users to return as much water as possible to the streams from which the water has been taken.
The Bear Creek Reservoir, from which Oconee County is currently drawing most of its water, draws that water from the Middle Oconee River. Barber Creek flows to McNutt Creek and then back to the Middle Oconee.
Petitions signed by Friends of Barber Creek asked the EPD to require the County to treat any water it returned to Barber Creek to drinking water quality and to restrict the release to periods of normal water flow. In addition, we asked the EPD to do independent monitoring.
Jordan Jones and Goulding, the consulting firm the County hired to develop a wastewater treatment plans for the County, actually recommended that the County phase out its two existing waste water treatment plants–on Calls Creek and on Rocky Branch Road–and build a new plant on the Middle Oconee.
The January 17 meeting was about water, but, County officials acknowledged, at least implicitly, the linkage between the waste water treatment and drinking water treatment.
The amount of water the County brings in for drinking water increases the amount of water the County will have to treat at its sewage plants.
Both waste water treatment and drinking water treatment are functions of the County’s Utility Department. The debt the County takes on for water treatment and sewage treatment will have to be retired by that department and will be the responsibility of the County overall.
Both treatment of water for drinking and treatment of sewage water for discharge is done by plants using the same basic membrane filtrate technology.
It is quite possible to treat sewage water to drinking level quality. It is being done at a sewage plant in operation in Gwinnett County. And it is done many places around the world, as Jimmy Parker, from Precision Planning, acknowledged at the January 17 meeting.
So why won’t we do that in Oconee County?
"We don’t mind drinking other people’s waste water," Mr. Parker said in response to my question on this topic. "We just don’t want to drink our own."
One of the two reservoirs proposed would be downstream from an Athens sewage treatment plant. The other would be downstream from Monroe’s sewage treatment plant.
In fact, if the County gets its way and is given permits to discharge treated sewage from the Rocky Branch Waste Treatment plant into both Barber Creek and the Apalachee River, both proposed reservoirs would be downstream from Oconee sewage treatment plants.
So we may not like drinking our own waste water, but that is exactly what the County is proposing. It just doesn’t want to talk much about it.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Written 1/25/2007
Water Council Meeting Contrasted with County Meeting on Reservoirs
The public hearing last night before the Georgia Water Council on the University of Georgia campus contrasted in a number of ways with the public meeting a week earlier in Oconee County on proposed water reservoir options.
Georgia is running out of water and will not be able to provide enough water to meet the needs of state’s population in the next 25 years, Dr. Carol Couch, director of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, said last night. As a result, preservation and conservation are essential.
A week earlier, Oconee County officials and their consultants said the County, based on high-end projections of population growth, needs a lot more water to feed planned and hoped for development in the County. As a result, the County needs to act quickly before others get the water first.
The Water Council meeting at the Georgia Center focused on the limited supply of water and what the state needs to do to protect it. The Oconee County meeting at the courthouse in Watkinsville focused on the limits state and federal regulations place on where the County can find water to put into its reservoir.
The Water Council meeting was intended to give residents a chance to comment on a Statewide Comprehensive Water Plan.
The Oconee County meeting on January 17th was to give citizens a chance to ask questions about two large reservoir projects that will draw water from the Oconee watershed. The County did not discuss plans to conserve that water, discourage its use, or guarantee that an adequate supply is put back into the rivers for downstream use.
The Georgia Water Council meeting was to obtain comments on the fourth objectives of the statewide master plan: protecting water quality. The other three are minimizing water withdrawal through conservation, reuse and efficiency, maximizing return of water to basins from which it was drawn, and meeting water demands.
One of the proposal of particular importance to those of us concerned about protection of the streams of the County is a call for increased resources for the EPD for stream monitoring.
April Ingle, executive director of the Georgia River Network, who has worked with us in our efforts to protect Barber Creek, spoke in favor in this proposal. I followed her comments and indicated how important monitoring is for Barber Creek.
I told the Council–and reminded Dr. Couch–that we have asked the EPD to modify the permit it has drafted for Oconee County’s proposed expansion of the Rocky Branch sewage plant. That permit would allow the County to discharge 1 million gallons per of plant effluent into Barber Creek.
At the December 12 hearing on the permit and subsequently, we submitted a petition signed by at least 45 residents asking the EPD to guarantee it will conduct independent sampling of Barber Creek on an unannounced basis at least once every three months during each year if it grants the permit.
I also reminded Dr. Couch that we asked that the permit be changed to allow Oconee County to discharge into Barber Creek only when the creek is at normal stage and to require the County to treat the water to drinking level quality.
The EPD should announce its decision on the draft permit at any time.
About 110 people attended the meeting last night at the Georgia Center. Many of them were government officials. Included were Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis and Chris Thomas, assistant Oconee County Utility Department director.
April and I were among the 13 who spoke.
The first was Les Reed of Save Lake Oconee’s Waters. He would not have been happy had he attended the meeting on the 17th in Oconee County.
Reed said Lake Oconee and the Oconee River already are getting an inadequate supply of water and asked that no more water be taken from the River.
Both of the reservoirs Oconee County is considering building would do just that. One would draw water from the Oconee directly; the other would take water from the Apalachee, which flows into the Oconee.
Water Council Meeting Contrasted with County Meeting on Reservoirs
The public hearing last night before the Georgia Water Council on the University of Georgia campus contrasted in a number of ways with the public meeting a week earlier in Oconee County on proposed water reservoir options.
Georgia is running out of water and will not be able to provide enough water to meet the needs of state’s population in the next 25 years, Dr. Carol Couch, director of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, said last night. As a result, preservation and conservation are essential.
A week earlier, Oconee County officials and their consultants said the County, based on high-end projections of population growth, needs a lot more water to feed planned and hoped for development in the County. As a result, the County needs to act quickly before others get the water first.
The Water Council meeting at the Georgia Center focused on the limited supply of water and what the state needs to do to protect it. The Oconee County meeting at the courthouse in Watkinsville focused on the limits state and federal regulations place on where the County can find water to put into its reservoir.
The Water Council meeting was intended to give residents a chance to comment on a Statewide Comprehensive Water Plan.
The Oconee County meeting on January 17th was to give citizens a chance to ask questions about two large reservoir projects that will draw water from the Oconee watershed. The County did not discuss plans to conserve that water, discourage its use, or guarantee that an adequate supply is put back into the rivers for downstream use.
The Georgia Water Council meeting was to obtain comments on the fourth objectives of the statewide master plan: protecting water quality. The other three are minimizing water withdrawal through conservation, reuse and efficiency, maximizing return of water to basins from which it was drawn, and meeting water demands.
One of the proposal of particular importance to those of us concerned about protection of the streams of the County is a call for increased resources for the EPD for stream monitoring.
April Ingle, executive director of the Georgia River Network, who has worked with us in our efforts to protect Barber Creek, spoke in favor in this proposal. I followed her comments and indicated how important monitoring is for Barber Creek.
I told the Council–and reminded Dr. Couch–that we have asked the EPD to modify the permit it has drafted for Oconee County’s proposed expansion of the Rocky Branch sewage plant. That permit would allow the County to discharge 1 million gallons per of plant effluent into Barber Creek.
At the December 12 hearing on the permit and subsequently, we submitted a petition signed by at least 45 residents asking the EPD to guarantee it will conduct independent sampling of Barber Creek on an unannounced basis at least once every three months during each year if it grants the permit.
I also reminded Dr. Couch that we asked that the permit be changed to allow Oconee County to discharge into Barber Creek only when the creek is at normal stage and to require the County to treat the water to drinking level quality.
The EPD should announce its decision on the draft permit at any time.
About 110 people attended the meeting last night at the Georgia Center. Many of them were government officials. Included were Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis and Chris Thomas, assistant Oconee County Utility Department director.
April and I were among the 13 who spoke.
The first was Les Reed of Save Lake Oconee’s Waters. He would not have been happy had he attended the meeting on the 17th in Oconee County.
Reed said Lake Oconee and the Oconee River already are getting an inadequate supply of water and asked that no more water be taken from the River.
Both of the reservoirs Oconee County is considering building would do just that. One would draw water from the Oconee directly; the other would take water from the Apalachee, which flows into the Oconee.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Written 1/18/2007
Citizens Pose Lots of Questions at Hearing
About 60 people attended the meeting last night to learn more about the County’s plans for water treatment. The County did a nice job of allowing questions, and there were many. The meeting lasted about two hours.
What is clear is that the County at present plans to pick between two expensive, large projects, one in Walton County and the other in Oconee. Other options were acknowledged but dismissed as not suitable by the two consultants who spoke, William Martello of Jordan Jones & Goulding and Jimmy Parker of Precision Planning.
This is not much of a surprise. Martello developed the Oconee project; Parker is involved with the Walton project.
Costs are more than $100 million in both cases.
County Commission Chairman Melvin Davis said the County is going to decide in the next month or two what it wants to do.
Davis, Martello and Parker argued that the County is going to run out of water soon. The data to support that were sketchy. At one point, Wayne Provost, the director of strategic and long-range planning for the County, said the County had never linked those projections to land use plans. He acknowledged that the current plans do not even call for water services to be provided throughout the County.
Martello said he was using the high projections for population growth and acknowledged that the County has not been growing at the rate to match these projections. He said he did not want to be conservative.
Several of us asked why the County has not considered integrating its sewage treatment and water treatment plants, since they use the same basic technology to treat water and the County has been arguing that the product of its existing and proposed sewage plants is "near drinking level quality."
We had to ask the question several times. Finally, the answer was that the County officials and consultants do not believe the people of this County are smart enough to understand that one way or the other we are reusing water and will be doing so in the future.
Residents of the County will be willing to drink the treated sewage water from other counties (such as Clarke County, which is upstream of the planned Barnett Shoals reservoir), but they will not be willing to drink their own treated sewage water, we were told.
The irony is that, if either of these reservoirs is built, and if the County expands the Rocky Branch sewage treatment plant as it proposes, dumping treated sewage water into both Barber Creek and the Apalachee, we would be drinking our own sewage water regardless of which of the two proposed reservoirs we would draw from.
Perhaps the biggest unanswered–but repeatedly asked–question of the night was: How is the County going to pay for either of these reservoirs.
The answer, we were told, has not yet been developed.
Citizens Pose Lots of Questions at Hearing
About 60 people attended the meeting last night to learn more about the County’s plans for water treatment. The County did a nice job of allowing questions, and there were many. The meeting lasted about two hours.
What is clear is that the County at present plans to pick between two expensive, large projects, one in Walton County and the other in Oconee. Other options were acknowledged but dismissed as not suitable by the two consultants who spoke, William Martello of Jordan Jones & Goulding and Jimmy Parker of Precision Planning.
This is not much of a surprise. Martello developed the Oconee project; Parker is involved with the Walton project.
Costs are more than $100 million in both cases.
County Commission Chairman Melvin Davis said the County is going to decide in the next month or two what it wants to do.
Davis, Martello and Parker argued that the County is going to run out of water soon. The data to support that were sketchy. At one point, Wayne Provost, the director of strategic and long-range planning for the County, said the County had never linked those projections to land use plans. He acknowledged that the current plans do not even call for water services to be provided throughout the County.
Martello said he was using the high projections for population growth and acknowledged that the County has not been growing at the rate to match these projections. He said he did not want to be conservative.
Several of us asked why the County has not considered integrating its sewage treatment and water treatment plants, since they use the same basic technology to treat water and the County has been arguing that the product of its existing and proposed sewage plants is "near drinking level quality."
We had to ask the question several times. Finally, the answer was that the County officials and consultants do not believe the people of this County are smart enough to understand that one way or the other we are reusing water and will be doing so in the future.
Residents of the County will be willing to drink the treated sewage water from other counties (such as Clarke County, which is upstream of the planned Barnett Shoals reservoir), but they will not be willing to drink their own treated sewage water, we were told.
The irony is that, if either of these reservoirs is built, and if the County expands the Rocky Branch sewage treatment plant as it proposes, dumping treated sewage water into both Barber Creek and the Apalachee, we would be drinking our own sewage water regardless of which of the two proposed reservoirs we would draw from.
Perhaps the biggest unanswered–but repeatedly asked–question of the night was: How is the County going to pay for either of these reservoirs.
The answer, we were told, has not yet been developed.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Written on 1/14/2007
Important to Attend Two Upcoming Meetings
Two important meetings are taking place this week and next, both on Wednesday evenings.
At 7 p.m. on January 17, the Oconee County Board of Commissioners (BOC) will hold a hearing on plans for a water reservoir at the courthouse in Watkinsville.
From 5:30 to 8 p.m. on January 24, The Georgia Water Council will discuss statewide water management in Masters Hall at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education, 1197 S. Lumpkin St., on the UGA campus.
Stories about the January 17 meetings have appeared in all three papers. All indicate the County is seeking citizen input on two reservoir options. The County could go forward with its previously announced plans to build a reservoir on Barnett Shoals road, or it could join Walton County in construction of a reservoir on Hard Labor Creek. The County pulled out of the Walton County project last year in favor of the Barnett Shoals project.
Likely County Already Decided
The stories have said this is an opportunity for citizens to express their views of the options, but it seems clear the County has already made its choice. The January 11 edition of the Oconee Enterprise contains a legal notice of the hearing, which would not be required if this were merely a discussion of options.
The story in the January 11 issue of The Oconee Leader, which quotes BOC Chairman Melvin Davis extensively, suggests this is a public hearing on the County’s decision to rejoin Walton County.
Both options involve more than $100 million in County expenditures. Apparently not up for discussion is not going forward with either of these projects.
According to the story in the Leader, the County used 2.6 million gallons per day of water in 2005. At one place in the article, Chairman Davis is quoted as saying the County might need 12 million gallons per day in 2050. He also is quoted as saying the County "probably will need more water in 2013 or 2014" than it can get from the Bear Creek reservoir in Jackson County.
The Bear Creek reservoir first started supplying water in 2002 to Barrow, Clarke, Jackson and Oconee counties. According to the web site of the engineering company Golder, which provided construction monitoring for the reservoir, the 505-acre reservoir and treatment plant have a capacity of 45 million gallons of water per day.
Water "Needed" to Encourage Growth
Chairman Davis said the County "needs" more water for growth. That, of course, is what the decision on January 17 will focus on: how to develop a water source to encourage more growth in the County.
More water coming into the County means more water flowing to its two sewage treatment plants, including the plant on Rocky Branch road. The County is seeking a permit at present to discharge 1 million gallons per day of water from that plant into Barber Creek. The County is considering expanding that plant to 4 million gallons per day of discharge in the future.
To build the Barnett Shoals reservoir, the County would need a permit to draw water out of the Oconee River. The Hard Labor Creek reservoir would draw water from the Apalachee River. The Bear Creek Reservoir currently takes its water from the Middle Oconee.
The Georgia Water Council meeting on January 24 at the Georgia Center is part of an effort to create a statewide Water Management Plan. The Water Council is a coordinating committee created by the Georgia 2004 Comprehensive Statewide Water Management Planning Act, which mandates the development of a statewide plan.
EPD Has Four Objectives
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD), with the oversight of the Water Council, has developed four major water management objectives: (1) Minimize withdrawals of water by increasing conservation, reuse, and efficiency, (2) Maximize the return of water to river basins, (3) meeting water demands through efficient surface water storage and aquifer management, and (4) protecting water quality by reducing discharges of pollutants to streams and runoff from land.
At the meeting, the Water Council will present draft policy recommendations on water quality and take comments on policy options to be addressed by the Comprehensive Statewide Water Management Plan.
The first half hour of the meeting will give participants an opportunity to view displays and materials related to the water planning process.
Some of the Water Council objectives seem at odds with those of Oconee County.
Oconee County is trying to develop a demand for treated water from its Rocky Branch sewage plant for use in lawn irrigation. When there is no demand because of heavy rains, the treated sewage water will go into Barber Creek, where it ultimately will flow to the Middle Oconee and Oconee. When these streams might benefit from increased volume, in other words, they will not get it.
Integration of Water and Sewage Treatment
An option the County has not discussed is integrating its sewage treatment and water treatment facilities to make maximum use of the limited water resource.
That would require the County to treat its sewage water to drinking level quality. It can be done, but it will not be done if the County is allowed to discharge lesser quality water into Barber Creek and allowed to encourage, rather than discourage, the use of water for lawn irrigation.
Please try to attend both of these meetings and to raise questions at both about how we can use and protect all our streams, not just Barber Creek.
Important to Attend Two Upcoming Meetings
Two important meetings are taking place this week and next, both on Wednesday evenings.
At 7 p.m. on January 17, the Oconee County Board of Commissioners (BOC) will hold a hearing on plans for a water reservoir at the courthouse in Watkinsville.
From 5:30 to 8 p.m. on January 24, The Georgia Water Council will discuss statewide water management in Masters Hall at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education, 1197 S. Lumpkin St., on the UGA campus.
Stories about the January 17 meetings have appeared in all three papers. All indicate the County is seeking citizen input on two reservoir options. The County could go forward with its previously announced plans to build a reservoir on Barnett Shoals road, or it could join Walton County in construction of a reservoir on Hard Labor Creek. The County pulled out of the Walton County project last year in favor of the Barnett Shoals project.
Likely County Already Decided
The stories have said this is an opportunity for citizens to express their views of the options, but it seems clear the County has already made its choice. The January 11 edition of the Oconee Enterprise contains a legal notice of the hearing, which would not be required if this were merely a discussion of options.
The story in the January 11 issue of The Oconee Leader, which quotes BOC Chairman Melvin Davis extensively, suggests this is a public hearing on the County’s decision to rejoin Walton County.
Both options involve more than $100 million in County expenditures. Apparently not up for discussion is not going forward with either of these projects.
According to the story in the Leader, the County used 2.6 million gallons per day of water in 2005. At one place in the article, Chairman Davis is quoted as saying the County might need 12 million gallons per day in 2050. He also is quoted as saying the County "probably will need more water in 2013 or 2014" than it can get from the Bear Creek reservoir in Jackson County.
The Bear Creek reservoir first started supplying water in 2002 to Barrow, Clarke, Jackson and Oconee counties. According to the web site of the engineering company Golder, which provided construction monitoring for the reservoir, the 505-acre reservoir and treatment plant have a capacity of 45 million gallons of water per day.
Water "Needed" to Encourage Growth
Chairman Davis said the County "needs" more water for growth. That, of course, is what the decision on January 17 will focus on: how to develop a water source to encourage more growth in the County.
More water coming into the County means more water flowing to its two sewage treatment plants, including the plant on Rocky Branch road. The County is seeking a permit at present to discharge 1 million gallons per day of water from that plant into Barber Creek. The County is considering expanding that plant to 4 million gallons per day of discharge in the future.
To build the Barnett Shoals reservoir, the County would need a permit to draw water out of the Oconee River. The Hard Labor Creek reservoir would draw water from the Apalachee River. The Bear Creek Reservoir currently takes its water from the Middle Oconee.
The Georgia Water Council meeting on January 24 at the Georgia Center is part of an effort to create a statewide Water Management Plan. The Water Council is a coordinating committee created by the Georgia 2004 Comprehensive Statewide Water Management Planning Act, which mandates the development of a statewide plan.
EPD Has Four Objectives
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD), with the oversight of the Water Council, has developed four major water management objectives: (1) Minimize withdrawals of water by increasing conservation, reuse, and efficiency, (2) Maximize the return of water to river basins, (3) meeting water demands through efficient surface water storage and aquifer management, and (4) protecting water quality by reducing discharges of pollutants to streams and runoff from land.
At the meeting, the Water Council will present draft policy recommendations on water quality and take comments on policy options to be addressed by the Comprehensive Statewide Water Management Plan.
The first half hour of the meeting will give participants an opportunity to view displays and materials related to the water planning process.
Some of the Water Council objectives seem at odds with those of Oconee County.
Oconee County is trying to develop a demand for treated water from its Rocky Branch sewage plant for use in lawn irrigation. When there is no demand because of heavy rains, the treated sewage water will go into Barber Creek, where it ultimately will flow to the Middle Oconee and Oconee. When these streams might benefit from increased volume, in other words, they will not get it.
Integration of Water and Sewage Treatment
An option the County has not discussed is integrating its sewage treatment and water treatment facilities to make maximum use of the limited water resource.
That would require the County to treat its sewage water to drinking level quality. It can be done, but it will not be done if the County is allowed to discharge lesser quality water into Barber Creek and allowed to encourage, rather than discourage, the use of water for lawn irrigation.
Please try to attend both of these meetings and to raise questions at both about how we can use and protect all our streams, not just Barber Creek.
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