If the state

legislature creates a new regional water commission for metro Atlanta,

Fayette County wants to be involved.

"I have

requested to be on that board," said Greg Dunn, Fayette County Commission

chairman.

Legislation

creating the board would require that the Atlanta Regional Commission

appoint the chairmen of ten of the region's 18 county commissions to serve,

and Dunn said it's important that Fayette's chairman be one of those.

"I have

great concerns about how things would work when we regionalize" water

management, Dunn said. "I've been told they are going to try to make

it less noxious than the GRTA (Georgia Regional Transportation Authority)."

A majority

of the regional board's members would be elected officials, Dunn said,

and that alone is an improvement over the state's transportation superagency.

The commission

would be charged with overseeing the region's compliance with new federal

regulations concerning pollution in storm water runoff, and with handling

water quality and quantity issues in the area.

Some local

leaders are concerned that may mean that counties with adequate water

will be forced to share with their neighbors.

"I want

to make sure that we're there, because we have the best water system in

the region," said Dunn. "We've also done a good job of keeping

it clean. We have stricter rules on building, etc.

"We're

mostly in compliance with what they want," he added. "But as

water becomes more scarce, we need to be at the table. Fayette residents

have invested a lot to have such a good water system, and their investment

needs to be protected. If we can achieve that and still be good neighbors,

great," he added.

State Sen.

Greg Hecht of Jonesboro, who represents north Fayette, said this week

there is fairly strong support for the legislation in the General Assembly.

"Personally,

I'm still trying to grasp it all," he said. But most counties and

cities are supporting the idea as long as they can have elected representation

on the commission.

One popular

idea behind the commission is to encourage recycling of water resources,

he said. "It's probably a good idea for things like golf courses

and irrigation," he said. "Well-treated waste water reused as

opposed to just totally being lost ... a lot of cities and counties agree

that's a very under-utilized concept," he said.

But Sen. Mitch

Seabaugh of Newnan, who represents south Fayette, said he was concerned

about the powers the water committee would have and how members of the

committee would be selected.

"The language

is pretty vague on moving water between districts," Seabaugh said,

indicating his concern that the committee could take water from some counties

and give it to others. "... Right now, I don't know if it has enough

support to pass," Seabaugh said.

Another concern

of Seabaugh's is how the committee will be funded. The current plan calls

for the committee to be funded for the first two years by the state before

the counties must fund the initiative, he said.

Seabaugh is

a Republican, Hecht a Democrat.