Peacthree

City water officials say their preliminary studies aimed

at possibly increasing the city's water delivery capacity

are in no way connected to discussions of annexing more

than 1,200 acres for a proposed West Village.

No matter

what happens in the ongoing annexation debate, the Water

and Sewerage Authority has to be ready to deal with it,

said Larry Turner, authority general manager.

An

annexation proposal for a planned development in the West

Village was scheduled to be discussed by the City Council

at last night's regular meeting. Results of that

discussion were not available at press time, but a brief

update can be seen on the Citizen's Web site at www.thecitizennews.com .

While WASA

has not yet applied for an increase in capacity at its

three treatment plants, Turner says that there will have

be some expansion at some point, regardless of

annexation.

"We

obviously don't have any opinion on annexation," he

said Wednesday. "But we've got to be ready to go no

matter what."

The current

capacity is 4.9 million gallons per day, and that limit

is regulated by the state. A National Pollutant Discharge

Elimination System permit must be held to maintain that

level, and another permit must be obtained to increase

it.

Those

permits run for five years, and Turner says the city is

now in the renewal process, but only to stay at the

current level. "It's just a standard renewal."

Environmentalist

Dennis Chase, president of the Line Creek Association,

sent a letter this week to Harold Reheis, director of the

state's Environmental Protection Division, saying that

WASA is already looking to expand its capacity and the

public needs more time to comment on capacity. A copy of

this letter was furnished to The Citizen.

"This

letter is to request an extension of time on the issuance

of the expansion of the existing NPDES permit for [WASA],

for discharges from the three water treatment facilities

in Peachtree City," the letter stated.

"The

authority has completed part of the background studies of

the water quality data and the biological assessment for

their watershed assessment study. Those studies were kept

confidential until the authority met with Peachtree City

officials on Jan. 11," Chase's letter said.

Turner

disputed that statement, pointing out that the Watershed

Advisory Board held two public hearings, the first of

which was last September and the second Jan. 11. He added

that findings of the ongoing watershed assessment have

been discussed at several regular WASA public meetings.

As for the

comment regarding expansion, Turner reiterated that no

such process has begun. "We're looking into

it," he said. "But we have not filed a permit

application yet."

The actual

permit application process is not a simple one, Turner

added, and could take months or even a couple of years.

The

watershed assessment is one requirement for such an

application, and it is not finished yet either. Two

wet-weather samplings and two dry-weather samplings have

been done, according to Turner, along with a biological

assessment.

Still to

come are two more wet-weather assessments - one this

winter, weather permitting, and another in the spring.

Then the city would have to put together a watershed

protection plan based on the findings.

When the

time comes to apply for extra capacity, Turner says that

there will certainly be a great deal of public input on

the issue.

"There

will be a lot of public hearings," he said.

"I'm not to going to apply for a permit without

getting public input so I can get shot down by the

EPD."

Even if no

more land is ever annexed into the city, the system will

need slightly more capacity in the years ahead, Turner

said. Figures as high as six million gallons per day for

the city, depending on annexation, have been discussed.

As for the

West Village, it can be handled by the Wynnmeade pump

station, which was rebuilt within the last couple of

years to serve the upcoming Cedarcroft subdivision and

apartment complex on Line Creek Parkway. Turner said that

when that project was agreed upon, about the time of the

city's acquisition of the system from Georgia Utilities

and before he became general manager, it was logical to

design the station to handle the entire area if

necessary.