Community Corner

Letter to the Editor: City, County Water Negotiations

A concerned resident speaks out on the water contract negotiations between the city of Cumming and Forsyth County.


When I first started to look at the water contract negotiations which are currently underway between the City of Cumming and Forsyth County, I had no idea of the complexity of the issues involved. I will do my best to present this in the simplest way while doing the subject the justice it deserves. There are many "facts" that need to be digested, before a recommendation about how to proceed with the negotiations can be attempted. But first, a little history.

The City of Cumming had the foresight in the 1970's to negotiate a water intake from Lake Lanier to lure Tyson to build a plant in the City. The County did not have a need at that time, which is quite common for rural counties. The 1970 census data shows a population of 16,928 for the entire County. By 1980, the County had a population of 27,958. The City expanded its customer base over time to service about 20% of the County geographically and today has about 17,000 accounts. The City and County formed a Water Authority in the 1980's with delegates from each to manage the water and sewerage system which was serving both the City and the County. Over time, the Water Authority became more and more contentious until the City stopped sending its delegates altogether, and the Authority could no longer conduct business for lack of a quorum. It was abolished in 1985, and the Authority handed all assets over to the County, however, the City retained ownership of the intake and its treatment plant as it always had.

In 1988, $8M of the first SPLOST money was earmarked for upgrading the intake and the City's water treatment plant. A contract between the City and the County was negotiated which included what is described as "reasonable" rates to the County. Over time, this contract was modified and County conceded to ever-increasing rates until today the County pays about $2.43 per thousand gallons of finished water and about $0.10 per thousand gallons of raw water. By 1990, the County population had grown to 44,083. According to the County Water Department, the County finishes its own water at a cost of about $0.52 per thousand gallons. The obvious question is, "why is the City charging the County more than 4 and a half times more for finished water than the County can do it for themselves?"

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In 1998, the County completed their own water treatment plant capable of finishing about 16 million gallons per day (MGD). The County also obtained a permit in 1996 from the EPD (Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources) for an average of 14MGD of raw water from Lake Lanier. Unfortunately, Alabama and Florida sued the Army Corps of Engineers over use of the water in Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River, and in 1998 refused to grant easements or allow the County to construct an intake.

In 2000, when the County population was 98,407, the County agreed to continue to purchase about 4.5 million gallons per day of finished water from the City, even though the County had no need of it. Today, with the County population of 175,511 (2010), with the exception of less than 20 days per year, the County still does not need that 4.46 million gallons per day, but is still required to purchase it from the City at a cost of about $10,838 every day, or $3,955,797 per year at the current rate of $2.43 per thousand gallons.  When you add an average of 10MGD of Raw Water purchased from the City at a cost of $365,000, the County is paying $4,320,797 per year to the City for water.
When the County built its treatment plant in 1998, the City intake became inadequate and the County contributed $4.8M to the City for the upgrades. Other County infrastructure costs include $8M from the 1988 SPLOST, $18M for the County's initial treatment plant, $20M for the County's new treatment plant which comes on line in July 2012, $7M for a new 48 inch pipe from the intake to the new plant, $6M for a 20 million gallon storage tank, and most recently, the City has presented the County with a bill for $11.4M for the cost of additional upgrades to the City's intake. That's $75.2M that the County has invested in infrastructure, and does not cover all infrastructure costs, including the costs of any of the pipes installed throughout the county.

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The demographics of this County have changed dramatically since the City first placed its intake into Lake Lanier in 1970's. The population has grown from 16,928 in 1970 to 175,511 in 2010. By the City's own admission, the County consumes 65% of the water resources as indicated on their latest bill to the County for intake upgrades in the amount of $11,436,450.13.

Given the City's own admission that the County, based on needs, has a 65% interest in the available water resources, the current permits need to be re-allocated by EPD to reflect that reality. The current Raw Water permit allows the City to withdraw 37MGD for the combined use of the City and the County. Currently, the permit provides the City 21MGD and the County 16MGD. The correct allocation, based on need should be adjusted to provide the City 13MGD and the County 24MGD. Once the County's new treatment plant goes into production in July, the County will have the capability of finishing about 28MGD, more than enough to supply the current needs of the County, even on peak usage days in the summer. There would be no need to purchase finished water from the City except in emergency situations.

Given the current legal battles over water rights between Georgia, Florida and Alabama including the appeal of the overturn of the Magnuson ruling, it will be some time before the Army Corps of Engineers will be issuing any authorizations for additional intakes from Lake Lanier, however, this must be Forsyth County's long term strategy. First, it will allow the County and the City to operate independently from one another without a transfer of wealth from the County to the City and, just as importantly, it will allow the City and County to provide backup water supply to each other in the event of a catastrophic infrastructure failure of either for any reason, as well as in times of emergency needs.

Instead of being at odds over water resources for the City and County, City and County officials need to form a united front to the Corps of Engineers and the EPD to insure adequate current and future water resources for ALL of the residents of Forsyth County. When the current 37MGD permit needs to be increased (in the very near future), all parties need to be on the same page and in agreement before presenting arguments to the EPD. It is time for a true partnership instead a "supplier/customer" relationship.

Hal Schneider
2/24/2012


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