Coweta County

took the first step Tuesday toward eliminating any worries about the county's

future water supply.

Commissioner

Lawrence Nelms announced the county had negotiated a deal with the city

of Atlanta to provide the county between three million and five million

gallons of water a day by next summer.

Additionally,

Atlanta officials said their excess capacity due to system upgrades in

the next five years would eventually enable the county to purchase up

to 20 million gallons a day.

The county

has been criticized by Newnan Utilities and the city of Senoia for not

securing a large scale future supply of water for the county's rapid growth,

but Nelms said this should end those criticisms.

Under the deal

with Atlanta, Coweta County would install the water lines to tap into

the city's water resources at two connections at the Coweta-Fulton County

border.

The city has

agreed to rebate the cost of water lines needed outside Coweta County

through adjustments in water rates.

Even with the

water from Atlanta, Commission Chairman Vernon "Mutt" Hunter

explained the county would still have been under water restrictions this

summer.

"Those

rules are imposed by the state. There's nothing we can do about that,"

he said .

Currently,

the county uses about six million gallons of water on a daily basis and

nine million on peak days. The added capacity from Atlanta will provide

for growth in the county through at least 2020, said County Administrator

Theron Gay.

"We'll

have to be careful not to drown ourself," Nelms said.

Nelms made

a motion to engage the county's engineering company, Stevenson and Palmer,

to perform the services needed to complete the project and for County

Attorney Mitch Powell to draft a contract with the city.

"Don't

let that paper turn yellow on your desk," said Hunter.