Forsyth, Cumming wrestle over water

Print
E-mail

By Jeffry Scott

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Forsyth County has 186 miles of shoreline on Lake Lanier, and the big lake, which provides most the tap water for metro Atlanta, almost taunts the county to stick a pipe in and take a drink.

AJC file photo Forsyth County has tried and failed for years to get a permit to withdraw water from Lake Lanier or from the Chattahoochee River downstream.

More Atlanta area news »

Forsyth has tried and failed for years, however, to get a permit to withdraw water from Lake Lanier or from the Chattahoochee River downstream.

The city of Cumming, however, does have the rights to take water from the lake, and, for the last three decades, the burg of about 6,000 people has made millions selling water to the surrounding county of about 175,000.

Now longtime Cumming Mayor Henry Ford Gravitt – who either outfoxed, or out-foresighted the county when he cut the water deal with the US Army Corps of Engineers back in the late 1970s -- said unless the county agrees to reimburse the city about $9 million on a new water plant Cumming built in 2009, he’ll raise the price of water in the next contract.

That could mean higher rates for county consumers.

“The county gets about 65 percent of the water from our intake pipe, so they should be responsible for pay 65 percent of the debt,” Gravitt said of the new plant, which cost about $14 million to build.

Slow down, says Forsyth County Commissioner Jim Boff. The city doesn’t yet have a permit to withdraw water from Lanier with its big new plant, which can pump more than 100 million gallons a day – eight times as much as Forsyth consumes.

“They want us to pay millions for something that's not even legally operable?” said Boff. “That makes no sense to me. I think we should wait two years until the contract runs out, or at least until they get a permit.”

The county’s four other commissioners – Brian Tam, Patrick Bell, Pete Amos and Todd Levent – said they are eager to sit down as soon as they can with the mayor and start negotiating a new deal with Gravitt, maybe within the next few weeks.

Under the existing contract, which expires in May 2012, Forsyth expects to pay Cumming about $3.9 million this year for potable water, and about $300,000 for raw water that it processes at its own plant, said Forsyth County Director of Water & Sewer, Tim Perkins.

The county built its $18.5 million water plant, which opened in 2000, expecting by now it would have permits from either the Corp to take water out of the lake or the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, which issues withdrawal permits for the Chattahoochee River.

Water consultant Eric Nease – whose firm has an $180,000 contract with the county – in December presented the commission with projected numbers of water consumption over the next 50 years and the likely alternative sources, which including building reservoirs and tapping other rivers, such as the Etowah.

U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson’sruling in July 2009 that water supply was an illegal use of Lake Lanier – and that he would turn off the tap to Lanier in July 2012 if Georgia, Alabama, and Florida didn’t come up with a water sharing plan – has made the county’s access to the lake lapping its borders look even more distant.

“There’s a possibility that his ruling could be overrule and that would change our path forward,” said Perkins. “The best source of water for Forsyth County is out of the lake, or the [Chattahoochee] river, and we want to hold out for that solution.”

In the meantime, mayor Gravitt said he’s going to use the leverage of that lake and his permit to make other extractions from the county, as well. He wants to combine the water talks with negotiations over the city’s share of county property taxes and car taxes.

“The county collects more than $200 million in property taxes and we don’t get a proportionate share of that,” said Gravitt. “That, and the water, these are things we need to work out.” He said he has yet to approach the county about a meeting, but he’s ready.

“My calendar is open,” said Gravitt.