Weekly watering may get EPD OK

When that one day arrives depends upon the last digit of a resident’s address, which means people living at addresses ending in zero or one may only water their yards or wash their cars from midnight to 10 a.m. on Mondays.
Call it the luck of the draw.
For addresses ending in two and three, it’s Tuesday; four and five, Wednesday; six and seven, Thursday; and eight and nine, Friday.
Forget about Saturdays and Sundays. Go play golf.
The authority, as of press time, still awaited its official notification from the Environmental Protection (EPD) granting its request to go to the new level 4-A. It has been assured that the letter is in the mail.
The scheduling of those days spread throughout the week was decided by the Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority so as to even out the usage and put less strain on water systems and upon the Bear Creek Reservoir.
The Jackson County authority would have preferred to allow more frequent use of outdoor water, noted Chairman Hunter Bicknell, but was afraid EPD would reject the request.
“We didn’t want to go to level 4-C (three days a week) or 4-B (two days a week) because we thought we’d be asking for too much,” he said at last Thursday’s meeting. “Also, if we have a bad year with the drought, it would be harder to go back (to more restrictive uses).”
Like water providers throughout North Georgia, the Jackson County authority is suffering financially from the drought. Curtailed water use mean reduced sales, which translates into lower revenue, while all the fixed costs from operations to debt retirement must be paid.
In other business Thursday, the authority voted to contract with Cybergov Consultants, LLC, for a rate study that would include water and sewerage rates and tap fees, and got a progress report on the construction project in the Cooper Farm Road vicinity east of U.S. 441.
“He is disinfecting and chlorinating as he goes along,” explained manager Eric Klerk. “He’s trying to get those people water as quickly as he can.”
The project came about as a result of several Cooper Farm Road residents coming before the authority because their wells are nearly dry or contaminated with iron.
The authority also approved four engineering firms that can be used on demand when time is a factor and the cost is less than $25,000. They include Engineering Management, Inc., Sweitzer Engineering, Heath & Lineback Engineers, Inc. and Brown & Caldwell.