lotstodo
aka "The Jackal"
In fact, sewer is one of the biggest hurdles faced by the new Richland Creek Reservoir. EPA and EPD frown, and I mean frown, on cross watershed projects, which Richland Creek is in it's present form. Paulding lies within both the Coosa and Chattahoochee River Basins, with Richland Creek being in the Coosa Basin. When the county applied for the permits, they "addressed" this by dividing the county by acreage in each basin (about 2/3 Coosa) and stating that the interbasin transfer would be negligible. Not so fast there.
This was immediately seized upon by the Coosa Riverkeeper and other environmental groups as pure hogwash, which it is. The minimal sewer system in Dallas and Hiram, the large number of septic systems, and the Sewer Master Plan clearly point to a substantial existing transfer and with expansions at Sweetwater and Coppermine proposed this would only worsen. Both of these plants discharge into the Chattahoochee river basin. Environmental observers estimate that until this matter is settled in court, and it will go to court if the COE issues final permits, the first shovel of soil will not be moved no matter how much money the county and state have obligated to the project. The most likely remedy would be expanding to treatment facilities on Richland Creek and expanding Pumpkinvine to capacity while scaling back Sweetwater and Coppermine.
Also of note to all of us here is that almost one quarter of the water purchased from Cobb County simply disappears. Fifteen percent of the water purchased from Cobb is lost in aging leaking pipes, many of them the condemned polybutylene installed in the 80's and early 90's. The cost to repair the system is estimated by the engineers hired by the Coosa Riverkeeper (admittedly with a dog in this fight) to be approximately ten to twenty percent that of Richland Creek and could provide enough water to supply 3000 homes as well as pay for itself over a period of ten to fifteen years with the estimated annual loss to rate payers of $1.4 million.
Now don't shoot the messenger. I'm for a reservoir, but I'm also for doing it right. We know that conservation is the most cost effective way to increase effective supply and we haven't even scratched that surface. We also know that interbasin transfers affect far more than some snaildarter, it has real effects on real people downstream from the withdrawal site. Paulding's proposa is estimated to lower the Coosa by as much as 2" at Rome. That may not sound like much, but that is a bunch of water.
This was immediately seized upon by the Coosa Riverkeeper and other environmental groups as pure hogwash, which it is. The minimal sewer system in Dallas and Hiram, the large number of septic systems, and the Sewer Master Plan clearly point to a substantial existing transfer and with expansions at Sweetwater and Coppermine proposed this would only worsen. Both of these plants discharge into the Chattahoochee river basin. Environmental observers estimate that until this matter is settled in court, and it will go to court if the COE issues final permits, the first shovel of soil will not be moved no matter how much money the county and state have obligated to the project. The most likely remedy would be expanding to treatment facilities on Richland Creek and expanding Pumpkinvine to capacity while scaling back Sweetwater and Coppermine.
Also of note to all of us here is that almost one quarter of the water purchased from Cobb County simply disappears. Fifteen percent of the water purchased from Cobb is lost in aging leaking pipes, many of them the condemned polybutylene installed in the 80's and early 90's. The cost to repair the system is estimated by the engineers hired by the Coosa Riverkeeper (admittedly with a dog in this fight) to be approximately ten to twenty percent that of Richland Creek and could provide enough water to supply 3000 homes as well as pay for itself over a period of ten to fifteen years with the estimated annual loss to rate payers of $1.4 million.
Now don't shoot the messenger. I'm for a reservoir, but I'm also for doing it right. We know that conservation is the most cost effective way to increase effective supply and we haven't even scratched that surface. We also know that interbasin transfers affect far more than some snaildarter, it has real effects on real people downstream from the withdrawal site. Paulding's proposa is estimated to lower the Coosa by as much as 2" at Rome. That may not sound like much, but that is a bunch of water.