Members of the Ellijay-Gilmer County Water and Sewerage Authority board approved using a half-million dollars for repairs at the wastewater treatment plant, as well as other expenses for projects, when meeting Monday, Aug. 28.
The $520,707 expense for rebuilding a clarifier at the wastewater plant will be split between this and the next budget year, water authority director Gary McVey told board members Billy Rowe, Tony Whitaker, Hubert Parker and Ricky Wimpey. The amount to be used in the current budget year won’t be over $250,000, he added.
The other clarifier at the plant, which had mechanical issues affecting critical components, was rebuilt and repaired during the 2022-23 fiscal year. The approved expense for those repairs was $456,000. The clarifiers are large concrete tanks with mechanical rakes where waste solids settle and clear water is sent for filtration.
“We just got done doing clarifier 2, and it’s in service doing like it’s supposed to,” McVey said. “We put $250,000 in this year’s budget for this part of the project. It’s a very long (lead time). We’re looking probably at fall or winter of 2024 before this is completed.”
The board also approved an expense not to exceed $70,000 for two new motors for pumps at the Cartecay raw water intake. The existing motors were worn to the point that they were unable to accommodate new equipment, variable speed drives, recently installed at the water plant, McVey noted.
“We had a hard time trying to solicit quotes for this. The motors that are there are U.S. Motors, which is the brand that’s been used on those raw water pumps since they’ve been put there. They’re a good brand that lasts a long time,” he added. “(Another company) quoted what they called equivalent motors, but it’s not a motor brand that I’m familiar with at all, and it (was) more money.”
McVey said one of the motors has already been installed on one of the raw water pumps.
“This project keeps kind of dragging out, but hopefully we’ll eventually get it,” he added. “Once everything is started with this new motor, we anticipate things to go well. We’re going to let it run two to three weeks, then bring them back in to do the other pump. We want to make sure we have one that’s operational till this new equipment gets up and going. The very last thing that will happen is we’ll do the startup and testing of the backup generator, which is onsite already.”
Board members also approved an expense not to exceed $25,000 for two new water meters at the Pilgrims Ellijay poultry processing plant. The existing meters have been in service for 17 years and rebuilt several times, McVey said.
Normally, the water authority would just replace the inside parts of the meter, but those parts are no longer being made by the manufacturer, he added.
In other news ...
McVey said almost 400 feet of new water line had been installed along South Main Street by the Thursday before the water board meeting.
The project work, which includes removal of the last piece of Transite (asbestos cement) pipe in the water system, is being done by UWS, a company out of Trion. The new water line will eventually extend from South Main Street to River Street.
“It’s a very slow process. They’re trying to keep everybody safe and do traffic control, too. We are already seeing evidence that the existing water line really needs to be replaced,” said McVey.