Ellijay-Gilmer County Water and Sewerage Authority board members were updated on some upcoming projects during their final meeting of the year Monday, Dec. 20.
During an Ellijay City Council workshop at City Hall the same evening, water authority director Gary McVey and board chairman Mike Gibbs also updated councilmembers and Mayor Al Hoyle on one of those future projects — removal and replacement of an aging South Main Street water line.
“It’s a good project, but it’s not going to be a fun project,” said McVey at the workshop.
A section of water main extending from near the Hitching Post almost to the downtown roundabout, which is the last section of Transite (asbestos cement) pipe in the water system, will be replaced. That pipe currently runs underneath South Main Street, and removing it will require digging underneath the busy two-lane road.
“Right now it’s in the road, and there’s really not a lot of real estate down there,” McVey said. “There’s going to be some growing pains, and it’s going to be pretty inconvenient when it starts. We will be mindful of the times of the year when there’s more festivities, and we’ll try to get it during the other times the best we can.”
Hoyle asked if the new pipe will also be put underneath the road. McVey said the project is still in the early engineering stages, and that’s not known yet.
“The place I wanted to put it, they’re boring power in right now. It may involve a lot of paving and repaving,” he added.
McVey said there’s been much discussion by the EPA and EPD the past couple of years concerning removal of Transite pipe, and the current administration may pass a removal mandate before 2024.
The water authority wants to get ahead of any mandate issued by the EPA by going ahead and removing the last stretch of Transite in its system, he added.
“Aside from the pipe material, the age and condition of this pipeline is an issue that we need to address sooner (rather) than later,” McVey said.
Another upcoming project will extend water line further into the Round Top-Mount Pisgah area all the way to the Pickens County line, McVey also told councilmembers. That extension will be funded with American Rescue Plan funds allotted by the county.
“The board will run some kind of special systemwide for tap and impact fees,” McVey said.
The “Round Top 2” project will further extend water service in that area, while also putting pipe in place for a possible second connection with the Pickens County water system. Pickens currently purchases water from the Ellijay-Gilmer authority using a system interconnection off Yukon Road.
During the Dec. 20 water board meeting, McVey told board members that Pickens is using more than 150,000 gallons a day right now and asking for more than that.
“They’re asking how much can you give us here, so we’re going to see how much we can give them without it hurting our customers,” he added.
More water can probably be provided without having to build another storage tank, but it could require an upgrade to at least one pump station to provide much more than what’s being supplied right now, McVey said.
While meeting, water board members approved an $18,526 expense to replace 19 lights at the local water treatment plant and its Cartecay intake site.
McVey said outside lighting at the water plant basins is 20 years old and starting to go out, causing a safety issue. The sodium vapor lighting will be replaced with LED fixtures, and existing poles and wiring will be used, he added.
“From a safety standpoint, I don’t think we need to wait till next budget year,” McVey said.
Fifteen of the lights are at the treatment plant and four at the water intake site, where leaves have to be manually removed from screens in the fall, he added.