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Published Saturday, August 22, 2009 in Local

Newnan water levels 'fantastic;'usage up to 8 million gallons a day

By Elizabeth Richardson

The Times-Herald

Water reservoir levels in Newnan remain "fantastic" for this time of year, according to Brandon Lovett, director of Water Operations at Newnan Utilities.

Lovett told members of the Newnan Water, Sewerage and Light Commission Friday the city reservoir system is "holding up nicely" at 88 percent.

The current demand on the city water supply is about 8 million gallons of water per day, with city residents consuming approximately four million of those gallons and Coweta County consuming the remaining four.

Overall, water usage is up approximately 2 million gallons of water per day from this time last year, but it's not back to the average consumption for this time of year, according to General Manager Dennis McEntire.

"Citizens are still conserving, but they're definitely using more than before," said McEntire.

Newnan Utilities is still exploring the possibility of raising two of its dams to more than double its current water storage capacity.

McEntire told the commission Friday that the city utility is waiting on a letter of recommendation from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to show that the project is reasonable and necessary.

Engineers are also still studying the city's pump stations to determine their maximum pump capacity and whether aspects of the stations need to be upgraded.

Lovett explained that water levels in the source streams rise and fall quickly after a rain event. Newnan Utilities needs to be able to pump water quickly, before levels subside, to capture the increase in water for storage.

In other meeting business:

* Newnan Utilities announced Friday that it's ready to award the bid for the utility relocation project on Millard Farmer Industrial Boulevard. The work is for the bypass widening project. Officials will be signing a $1.4 million contract with Don Hall Construction, the low bidder from Hampton, Ga.

"We are ready to move forward," said Engineer Ed Strong.

The city utility anticipates saving $200,000 on the project by doing some of the work in-house. Overall, the project could come in as much as $1 million under budget from the $4 million to $4.5 million originally anticipated, according to McEntire.

* The commission authorized Newnan Utilities to sell low side equipment in the V.C. Street sub station to the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia in the amount of $102,000. Newnan spent just over $70,000 getting the equipment up to MEAG's specifications. The sale includes reimbursement to Newnan Utilities for that money.

The city utility will still operate the substation and they will get billed by MEAG a flat monthly fee for ongoing maintenance, which is easier to budget for. MEAG is purchasing these substations to keep standards consistent from city to city, according to Water and Light Commission Attorney Bill Stemberger.

* Newnan will soon be making repairs to an old sewer line that is broken near The Alamo in downtown. The line runs to the old courthouse. The cost to repair the line will be paid both by the city and Coweta County. McEntire said they knew the line was old and damaged, but they were told by the city that the line would no longer be in use.

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