Oconee County Commissioners to Revisit Water Contract With Walton County at Tuesday Night Meeting

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners Tuesday night is scheduled to take up again a proposed contact that would allow Walton County to purchase up to a half million gallons per day of water from Oconee County.

The contract was brought to the Board at its Jan. 24 agenda-setting meeting by County Utility Department Director Chris Thomas.

At the request of Commissioner Chuck Horton, it was added to the regular agenda for Tuesday night’s meeting, rather than the consent agenda, so the Board can discuss further the pros and cons of the contract.

Thomas told the Board at its agenda-setting meeting on Jan. 24 that the sale was good for the county because it would generate needed revenue for his department and would allow the county to keep its system of wells in operating order.

Commissioner Chuck Horton countered that the revenue generated by the contract with Walton County was not very large and would not warrant taking water out of county wells that could be used by Oconee County itself in the future.

The issue is complex.

The financial gain to the county can be calculated in several ways. If production costs and costs for water purchased from Bear Creek are removed, the net is quite small.

John Dowd, a geology professor at the University of Georgia, said it is difficult to guess about the consequences of pumping water from the wells, but the focus should be more on potential contamination than on the volume of water pumped.

Thomas says there are controls in place to guarantee that there are no problems.

For an explanation of these and other issues associated with the contract, go to Oconee County Observations.