Gwinnett opens gates on water reclamation effort to Lanier

By Patrick Fox

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Gwinnett County opened the valves Wednesday on a $72 million pipeline that will send some 40 million gallons of treated water a day back into Lake Lanier -- and return it cleaner than when it left.

The opening of the pipeline, 10 years in the making, comes as the county is fighting to keep its access to the lake, its sole source of water for its nearly 800,000 residents. It gives Gwinnett bragging rights for reducing its impact on a coveted resource embroiled in a three-state feud.

"Getting ready to put as much as 40 million gallons a day of treated water back into Lake Lanier will be a huge plus in the water wars," said County Commission Chairman Charles Bannister.

Gwinnett County has joined the state in asking an appeals court to allow metro Atlanta to use Lake Lanier for most of its water needs. They asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to reverse a judge's ruling last July that declared the region has no legal right to rely on Lake Lanier for most of its water supply.

"I believe that putting water back into the lake helps us secure a long-term water supply for our residents," Bannister said Wednesday. "We also help our friends downstream by returning our water to its source."

Currently, Gwinnett County draws between 70 million and 80 million gallons of water from Lanier each day, said Jim Scarbrough, assistant director of the county Department of Water Resources. The figure can climb to more than 100 million gallons a day in the summer and can be less than 60 million in the winter, he said.

The new pipeline from the F. Wayne Hill Water Reclamation Plant in Buford is the only of the county's four plants to return treated water to the lake. Divers assembled just over a mile of the pipeline along the bottom of the lake near Buford Dam. The pipeline connects to a 716-foot diffuser designed to mix the treated wastewater with existing lake water.

The other three reclamation plants return treated water either to the Chattahoochee River near Holcomb Bridge Road or to Yellow Creek near Lilburn.

In all, Gwinnett will have the capacity to return about two-thirds of the water it takes from Lanier back to either the Lake Lanier basin or the Yellow River. The remainder is lost to either septic systems, outdoor watering or leaks, Scarbrough said.

"In the great scheme of things, putting the water back in the basin that you took it out of is good water resource management," Scarbrough said. "That's what we're doing."

Board members of the Lake Lanier Association, which had sued the county over the pipeline, were also on hand for the grand opening Wednesday. The association is an organization of 4,500 private residents and business owners interested in preserving the health and beauty of the lake.

Both sides reconciled after a five-year court battle that went all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court. The agreement was struck when Gwinnett officials accepted suggested parameters for the quality of the water returned to the lake.

"This is a great moment," Association President Jackie Joseph said Wednesday.

Board member Wilton Rook agreed: "It's a great event. We've worked hard to keep our contributions to the lake clean."

PIPELINE BY THE NUMBERS

$72 million -- Total cost

40 million -- Number of gallons of treated water the pipeline is permitted to carry back into Lake Lanier per day

9.5 miles -- Length from Hill plant to Lake Lanier

1.2 miles -- Length of pipeline in water

GWINNETT COUNTY AVERAGE DAILY WITHDRAWAL

In millions of gallons

2009: 73

2008: 73.5

2007: 88

2006: 92.5

2005: 85

Source: Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources