The Ellijay-Gilmer County Water and Sewerage Authority board approved an $8.5 million operating budget for the water authority’s 2022-23 fiscal year when meeting Tuesday, May 31.
The budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 is up from last year’s initial $7.8 million budget. That original 2021-22 budget was amended earlier this year with a $75,000 increase to cover rising costs in such areas as chemicals, energy and gas.
Price increases also impacted the new budget, confirmed Gary McVey, water authority director.
“Chemical and energy costs are up. It’s kind of hit us all the way around just like it has everybody else. We’re having a terrible time with certain materials, but especially our chemical costs are really hurting,” McVey said.
The water authority plans to start physical work on at least two big projects in the coming fiscal year — extending water service in the Roundtop/Knight Road area to the Pickens County line and replacing an 8-inch PVC water main with a 12-inch ductile iron main from Howard Simmons Road to Sunlight Road off Highway 382.
The Howard Simmons-Sunlight Road project will allow the water authority to service the Highway 5 South/Highway 382 and Coosawattee River Resort areas using a 1-million-gallon water tank on Talona Mountain. With that, use of the Orchard Road and Beaver Forest water tanks will be discontinued.
“It will increase our ability to transfer water to that whole southeastern end of the county,” said McVey of the project.
A five-year list of planned projects includes replacement of aging transite (asbestos cement) water line running underneath South Main Street. It’s possible that project, which will require digging up the entire stretch of 50-plus-year-old water line from underneath the two-lane road and replacing it with new pipe, won’t get started until the 2023-24 fiscal year, McVey noted.
“The engineering has been completed on it, and it’s been approved through EPD. However, due to other projects we have (like Roundtop and Simmons Road to 382) and due to what we’re seeing when we bid these projects out, we feel like we may want to hold off on bidding it out till things settle down a little bit,” McVey said.
In other news …
﹣ Board members approved $138,985 in engineering costs for additional infrastructure needed for the Roundtop Road project, which will run service to the Pickens County line.
A 500,000 gallon water tank and booster pump station will be built to cover locations that can’t be served by the Talona Mountain tank. The suggested location for the new storage tank is Barnes Mountain Road, but that location has not been confirmed yet, McVey noted.
In addition to providing better water service, the additional tank should provide better fire protection in that area of the county, he added.
A new water main that will will create a loop connection with a line on Highway 382, is also part of the still-to-be engineered infrastructure.
﹣ The Cartecay Water Treatment Plant recently received its 14th straight Platinum Award from the Georgia Association of Water Professionals. The award is given to plants that have consistent permit compliance and no violations in a calendar year.