Crappy situation requires solution
As the population of the Coosawattee River Resort neighborhood has grown, its sewage system has gone to crap.
The location’s more than 2,000 residents need a solution.
“There have been over 76 separate work orders for the campground area in the past 12 months,” Assistant General Manager David Kirkman said.
In a community meeting Wednesday, March 27, leaders and residents gathered to discuss the issue.
Currently, Coosawattee’s sewage system is failing. It dates back 1986. Although it worked well for a small population, it can’t accompany the needs of today’s residents.
It requires immense amounts of repairs to keep working.
The Ellijay/Gilmer County Water and Sewer Authority (EGCWSA) will do its best to make sure people don’t have to move if their sewers are strained.
“Our efforts would be to try to reconcile that in a way that would be a very positive outcome for the person,” Environmental Health County Manager Andrea Matthis said. “If it meant that we had to tie onto another system somewhere else to get them back online until a long-term solution could come.”
The meeting didn’t discuss an exact price or timeframe for fixing the issue.
As it stands, any overhaul of the sewage system faces significant obstacles. Coosawattee’s mountain terrain makes it difficult to install a new system.
Redesigning the current system to code would “basically destroy every bit of green space in that campground,” engineer Zeke Hunsberger said.
The neighborhood has two main options, he said.
The first is a sewer tank effluent pump system. This type of sewage system works by having low pressure sewers move sewage to the nearest manhole. It costs more to install but won’t be as expensive to maintain.
The second option is a grinder system. It works by grinding up sewage, then pumping it away. It costs less to install but is more expensive to maintain.
Whenever it starts, it will likely take about two and a half years to repair, engineer Lamar Rogers said.
Coosawattee would have to maintain a new low-pressure sewer system, EGCWSA Director Gary McVey said. The county will not take it over.
Future meetings will discuss the details on how to plan this project, meeting participants said.
“Ad hoc septic repairs are not a long-term solution,” Hunsberger said.