Ellijay-Gilmer County Water and Sewerage Authority board members approved a $328,900 expense for a CO2 system to treat unfiltered water when meeting last Monday.
Gary McVey, water authority director, told board members Mike Gibbs, Hubert Parker, Billy Rowe and Tony Whitaker there’s little to no natural alkalinity in the raw river water treated at the water plant.
Adding more alkalinity to the raw water allows solids like silt to settle out more quickly, McVey said.
“This is going to give them a tool where they don’t have such a tight rope to walk, especially during a heavy rain event. They’ll be able to have the alkalinity they need to get the water settled out way before it hits the filters,” he told board members.
Before the board voted on whether to approve the expense, Parker asked if other bids could be obtained from vendors or if the one presented vendor, Burnett Lime Company of South Carolina, is the sole source. McVey said that vendor is the only place he knows of that sells the system, which is not a common thing. The water authority previously purchased lime systems from the same company, he noted.
“I don’t have any problem with the project. I just think, any time you bring something this size, we ought to know if it’s a sole source and why, or here are the bids,” Parker said.
The entire CO2 system project will cost around $560,000, which includes installation, plumbing and piping that will also need to be installed at the water plant, McVey noted. He said material costs for the project had gone up $35,000 between the time they first got the price and Jan. 31. McVey said installation of the CO2 system shouldn’t cause any service interruptions for water authority customers. It will take about five months for the system to be built, he added.
“I really believe this is going to make our water plant a lot better. We went to Rome and looked at it and talked to those people. Everybody we talked to said it was a godsend for them, and we hope it will be for us, too,” McVey said.
The water board also approved submitting a request to the state Environmental Protection Division (EPD) for more water to be withdrawn from the Ellijay River.
McVey said, in the early 2000s, Georgia EPD gave the water authority a withdrawal permit for .45 million gallons a day (mgd) until they could show the need for the originally requested 1.5 mgd amount.
“At the time, EPD didn’t think we needed that much water. The water wars were going on about this time, too,” he said.
Numbers have increased over the past 20 years, and now is a good time to apply for the 1.5 mgd permit, McVey confirmed. The water plant is already equipped to handle the additional water, so all that’s needed is the permit, he noted.
Board members approved an expense not to exceed $10,000 for hiring Turnipseed Engineering to apply for the higher withdrawal permit.