A $14.5 million

plan to expand the capacity of Peachtree City's sewer system will be financed

with a revenue bond issue in the near future.

Larry Turner,

general manager of the Water and Sewerage Authority, said this week that

the funds will be needed by late April or early May so the project can

begin. Once the work is completed, WASA will have a new administration

building, doubled capacity at the Rockaway treatment plant up to 4 million

gallons a day and it will be rid of the aging (and costly) Flat Creek

treatment plant.

Flat Creek

costs over three times as much to treat sewage when compared to the Line

Creek and Rockaway plants, which have been improved over the past two

years, Turner said. Maintenance costs at the older Flat Creek facility

are much higher, he added.

Although the

Flat Creek plant will be shut down, the authority plans to continue to

use its capacity there, using a new line to pump the allowed 900,000 gallons

a day of treated sewage into Flat Creek.

The $14.5 million

project also includes a filtering system that will be installed at the

Line Creek plant to further treat sewage so it can be piped to the Planterra

Ridge Golf Club for irrigation purposes through existing water lines.

Two storage ponds will also be built at the Line Creek plant to store

this specially-treated water during periods of rain when it won't be needed

The move is

expected to create an extra 1.1 million gallons a day capacity into the

system during dry periods when Line Creek's water level is lower than

normal.

Once all is

said and done, the city will end up with a treatment capacity of 6 million

gallons a day, compared with the 3.9 million gallons a day it currently

averages. Construction is expected to begin in May of next year, ending

in January 2004.

The project

includes a $1.42 million administration building which would replace the

current maintenance facilities and portable administration building currently

located at the Flat Creek plant.

The bond issue,

which the authority is empowered to enact, will eventually require a raise

in sewer rates, Turner said. The rates haven't been raised since 1992,

he added.

The authority

could act on the bond issue as early as this fall. If that's possible,

it would allow for the funds to earn interest and shrink the total bond

issue, Turner said.

Proposals are

being sought for a financial advisor to assist the authority with preparation

of the bond issue, Turner said.

At Saturday's

WASA retreat, officials itemized the city's predicted need for wastewater

treatment at the buildout stage. That includes:

100,000 gallons

for future commercial developments;

500,000 gallons

for future residential developments;

300,000 gallons

for the service of homes around lakes which are currently on septic systems;

400,000 gallons

requested by existing industries;

400,000 gallons

for future industrial growth; and

200,000 gallons

representing the commitment made to the former Peachtree City Development

Corporation (now Pathway Communities) as part of the sewer system's sale

to WASA.

The authority

had previously committed to provide service to 800 residential units for

PCDC as part of that deal, but that included a provision that if the capacity

wasn't used after four years, PCDC would have to pay the authority to

reserve the capacity. The deadline recently expired and Pathway recently

sent its first $10,000 check to WASA to reserve the capacity.

Also included

in the capacity calculations is an approximate 5 percent reserve just

in case the estimates are off a little, Turner said. He told WASA during

the retreat that there are no plans to extend the sewer service beyond

the city limits except as it relates to the PCDC commitment.

WASA chairman

John Gronner asked how the authority could expand to handle any land the

city might annex. Turner replied that urban reuse such as the Planterra

Ridge irrigation project would be necessary since the state would not

allow more treated sewage to be discharged into Line Creek or Flat Creek.

A similar plan

to pump the super-treated sewage to the Braelinn Golf Club will not be

funded in this round of projects, but it could be used in the future.

Turner said another golf club outside the city limits has expressed an

interest in using the program to irrigate its course.

Either project

would require the construction of a pipe system to carry the treated wastewater.

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