As Coweta

County continues to boom, the Coweta County Commission is

becoming more and more consumed with the county's water

needs.

During

Tuesday afternoon's commission meeting, the board dealt

swiftly with two water problems.

The first

issue concerned a resident who is concerned about the

county raising the rates for water meters in January.

Last week,

the board approved raising the cost of a meter from $550

to $750. But Tuesday, the board decided to make an

exception to the policy.

A new water

customer called the county offices and wondered if he

could go ahead and pay the $550 charge now, since the

county was already running a water line down his street.

If the

water is not turned on until after the first of the year,

the resident wanted to escape the price increase.

Assistant

county administrator Eddie Whitlock recommended the board

allow customers who are on roads where work is being done

to go ahead and pay the lower rate. But he also added

that Jan. 1 should be the ultimate cut-off date.

The county

plans to run a legal announcement outlining all the roads

that water has been approved for and telling consumers

about the early payment option.

The second

water issue concerned Hearthstone subdivision on Smokey

Road. Commissioner Jim McGuffey explained he heard from

several residents who were without water the past

weekend.

McGuffey

said he was tired of hearing about bad private water

systems and asked the commissioners to look into the

feasibility of providing county water to the residents.

The

commissioners were unanimous in support of McGuffey's

recommendation, but said a preliminary poll of residents

would have to be completed before any water lines were

run.

County

administrator Theron Gay suggested that at least 80

percent of the residents should support county water

before the county moved any dirt.

The

commissioners agreed and also asked county attorney Mitch

Powell to check into the status of the current water

supplier to see if he is meeting all qualifications for

providing water.