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Published Saturday, December 31, 2011 in Local

Smith says lawmakers look to improve existing water sources

By Sarah Fay Campbell

The Newnan Times-Herald

Georgia's Water Supply Task Force has released its final report on ways to finance new water supply projects, and the legislative Joint Water Supply Study Committee will be issuing a report in the next few weeks.

Gov. Nathan Deal approved the Water Supply Task Force report this week.

In his State of the State address last year, Deal pledged $300 million over the next four years to develop new water supply sources. The task force studied ways to distribute that money.

The Joint Water Supply Study Committee consists of members of the Georgia Senate and House, including State Rep. Lynn Smith, R-Newnan.

Smith serves as chairwoman of the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee.

The committee met during the August special session for redistricting, and is disbanded as of today, Smith said. "We have been finalizing our report to give to the speaker and to the clerk [of the House]," Smith said.

As part of the process, Smith said they are looking at the resources that already exist and seeing how they can be improved. "There are some good wells that can be improved," she said. "We're also going to look at existing reservoirs that can be shored up, or increase capacity."

But the initiative is on the local governments, she said.

The legislative committee has made a motion to accept the report of the task force, Smith said.

And "in the future we will continue to look into and research the need for water supply. In other words, this is an interim step," Smith said. "There are lots of options still out there."

The Water Supply Task Force's recent recommendation is for a combination of low-interest loans, through the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority, and actual state ownership, called "direct state investment," either of an entire water resource or a percentage interest, with funding through the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.

The direct state investment can help local governments that may not be able to afford the new water resources on their own.

When the state makes an investment into a water supply resource, the state will lease the project back to the local government, for a term of no more than 50 years. The task force says in its report that, "in light of the public benefit provided by the lease arrangement, the state could lease the use of the asset or ownership interest to the local government for nominal monetary consideration."

At the end of the lease period, however, the state's interest can be sold. It will be first offered to the local government. If the local government doesn't purchase the asset or ownership interest, "the state would be free to retain or sell the asset to an interested buyer," according to the task force.

The task force in the report also discusses a framework for "public-private partnerships."

The water supply resources can include new reservoirs, as well as various improvements to reservoirs, wells, interconnectivity, indirect potable reuse systems, and "emerging/innovative projects" such as desalination, streamflow augmentation, and aquifer storage and recovery.

Any reservoirs built with the state funding must comply with the rules of the Water Supply Act of 2008. Those rules limit the real estate value of shoreline property and the recreational use of water supply reservoirs.

Under Georgia Code 12-5-472b, the local government must purchase "sufficient land surrounding any reservoir to provide for future expansion of such reservoir and to provide passive recreational opportunities on and around such reservoir."

The local government must limit development "on any proposed reservoir or its surrounding lands other than public development appropriate for such passive use," and "water supply must be the primary use of any proposed reservoir project and all uses of the reservoir or the surrounding lands must be subordinate to the use of the reservoir for water supply." The law also prohibits the use of gasoline powered boats on the water supply reservoirs. Only electric motors can be used.

The Water Supply Task Force includes representatives from GEFA, DCA, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission, the State Properties Commission, the Georgia Department of Agriculture, and the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission.

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