Oconee County Commissioners to Review Two-Year Water and Sewer Plan at Tuesday Meeting

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners Tuesday night is scheduled to review water and wastewater treatment project priorities for the county as part of a proposed 2013-2014 Water and Sewer Improvements Plan.

Included will be a sewage line that could serve Zoom Bait, St. Mary’s Health Care and the Gordy tract, this time as part of a larger project providing sewage services in the northwestern part of the county, including Bogart.

Utility Department Director Chris Thomas said he expects the WASI Plan to follow the general guidelines for water and sewer projects he outlined to the Board of Commissioners last year.

Without fanfare, and with almost no media attention, Oconee County in 2011 shifted its approach to wastewater treatment.

Gone are plans for a sewage plant at the site of the Rocky Branch Land Application facility on Barber Creek.

The existing sewage plant on Calls Creek in Watkinsville is to be expanded in the short term but ultimately it, too, will be phased out.

To replace the Calls Creek plant and the proposed Rocky Branch plant, Thomas has recommended that the county build a sewage treatment plant somewhere on the Middle Oconee River, possibly in collaboration with Athens-Clarke County.

Rather than provide sewer services to residential customers in the area between Mars Hill Road and Hog Mountain Road, the county will concentrate on providing services to commercial and industrial customers in the area north of SR 316, including Bogart.

For details about the meeting on Tuesday and the background of sewer and water services in the county, go to Oconee County Observations.