Coweta's water

users should not have to worry about a lack of water this summer.

That's the

message the Coweta County Commission delivered Tuesday after hearing about

the success of waterline connections with the city of Atlanta.

County Administrator

Theron Gay told the commission that all contracts had been signed with

Atlanta and he is just waiting for the water meters on the west side to

be connected.

The east side

connections are about 45 days from being completed and, when both lines

start pumping, Gay said the county will receive at least 2.8 million gallons

a day.

Commission

Chairman Robert Wood praised the staff for getting the water deal finished,

and gave an added kudos to Commissioner Vernon "Mutt" Hunter.

"When

he first told me about this idea, I told him he was crazy," Wood

said.

When the water

lines are connected, Gay said he plans to invite the commission to take

part in a ceremony to mark the occasion.

The contract

between Coweta County and Atlanta also calls for up to 15 million gallons

of drinking water per day within five years based on improvements to the

Atlanta Water System.

The water being

purchased from the city of Atlanta will be priced at approximately 90

cents per thousand gallons under an agreed rebate program, which is designed

to offer reduced water rates to Coweta County as a means to repay the

county for the cost of needed water lines outside the county's borders.

After the rebate,

the water price is set to be $1.25 per thousand gallons. Newnan Utilities,

currently the sole provider of water to the county system, charges $1.45

per thousand gallons.

Coweta County's

water system currently uses an average of five million gallons of water

per day and peaked at approximately nine million gallons during 2000.

While the contract

with the city of Atlanta provides an immediate boost to the county's available

water supply, it is by no means the only avenue being worked on by the

Board of Commissioners to provide additional water for the county's system

Also in hand is a contract with the city of Griffin to provide up to 10

million gallons of water per day incrementally beginning in 2004-2005,

based on completion of new treatment and storage facilities, the release

states.

Work also is

progressing on a treatment facility at the B.T. Brown Reservoir in northwestern

Coweta County that will provide between six and eight million gallons

per day. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2003.