The Ellijay-Gilmer County Water and Sewerage Authority has completed relocation of a water main that had to be moved in accordance with the Georgia Department of Transportation’s (GDOT’s) ongoing construction of a traffic roundabout at Highway 382 and Old Highway 5.
However, a section of that new line may still have to be dug up and moved again.
The relocation work that put new 12-inch line in service to replace a length of abandoned six-inch water line had already been finished when, in July, the water authority was contacted by GDOT and told that a portion of the rerouted line is in conflict with a box culvert on the east side of Old Highway 5, said water authority director Gary McVey.
“We’ve met a few times and were told the line was in the wrong place,” he added. “It’s not the entire job. It’s a small portion of it on the south end of where that big box culvert was built. Everybody has been great to work with and we’re just trying to figure it out.”
McVey said he recently learned that a survey used by GDOT’s contractor was incorrect.
“We actually had somebody come out and stake the job for us. They’re (also) going to bring their surveyor out,” he added.
The water authority’s position is that if any further work has to be done, GDOT will need to hire a utility contractor to move the line at their own expense, McVey confirmed.
“Our position is that we put the line in as it was approved by EPD. We staked it correctly and it was installed correctly. The fix, as far as workwise, is probably not extensive, but it was an unbudgeted project that we basically had to pay for out of pocket. We feel like we’ve done our part,” he added.
In other news ...
﹣ When meeting Monday, Aug. 24, water authority board members voted to hire supply contractors for an upcoming system improvement project that will extend water service to portions of the Roundtop-Sunlight Road area off Highway 382.
The $1.9 million project is being funded in part by a $722,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
Bids were advertised in three parts and the hired contractors are as follows:
Part one (six and eight-inch ductile iron pipe): Electrosteel USA for $296,034. Part two (fittings, hydrants and other items): Fortline Waterworks for $175,216. Part three (water meters and radio encoder-receiver-transmitters): Kendall Supply, Inc. for $27,744.
Electrosteel USA and Kendall Supply were sole bidders for parts one and three, respectively, while Fortline Waterworks was the low bidder for part two, McVey noted.
“As soon as that is executed, we should be able to order materials and get started,” he added.
﹣ A new steel water tank that will service the New Hope area and replace an older tank on Old Tails Creek Road has been erected, but is not yet operational.
“Our crews will install the piping and that will be in the next couple of weeks. If possible, we’d like to have it in service by end of September or mid-October,” McVey said.