Authority considers future of reservoir
Bear Creek

May 26, 2005
Athens Banner-Herald
By Lee Shearer

The Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority may take over operation of the Bear Creek reservoir and water treatment plant from the private company that runs it for the authority.
Or, it may hire a different company, or just renegotiate the contract with Azurix-JJ&G, which has run the reservoir and treatment plant since the facility started to supply drinking water three years ago.

The authority voted Wednesday to pay the Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center up to $2,000 to study the question.

The authority oversees Bear Creek, which provides drinking water for Clarke, Barrow, Jackson and Oconee counties. Barrow, Jackson and Oconee counties treat water at the reservoir, while Athens-Clarke pumps raw water to a treatment facility in Athens.

The authority did not consider a fourth option, which an authority committee had already rejected. In that choice, the Bear Creek plant would be run by the water department of one of the authority's four member counties: Barrow, Clarke, Jackson and Oconee.

That could lead to political problems, said several authority members.

"I just can't see how that would ever be an option," said Elton Collins, a Jackson County banker who chairs the authority's finance committee.

"Maybe in 15 or 20 years," said Jackson County Commission Chairwoman Pat Bell.
Azurix-JJ&G has done a good job running the plant, said Collins and other authority members.

"No one has a concern with the operation of the plant. It's been done well," said Oconee County Commission Chairman Melvin Davis.

But the contract with the company will grow increasingly expensive because of surcharges built into the contract, Collins said.

Water consumption is rising fast in Barrow, Jackson and Oconee counties, three of the most rapidly growing counties in Georgia, and water production at the reservoir has now reached 6 million gallons a day.

Under a clause in the contract with Azurix-JJ&G, the company gets 18 cents per 1,000 gallons for water production of more than 6 million gallons a day, 16 cents per 1,000 gallons after 8 million gallons a day and 14 cents per 1,000 gallons after 9 million gallons a day. "To me, it all goes back to cost-effectiveness," Bell said.

The authority is asking the RDC to get some estimates of how much money, if any, the authority could save by switching to another company or running the plant without an outside company. "Without those cost options it would be hard to know what is the best option for the authority," said Athens-Clarke County Mayor Heidi Davison, who is also a member of the authority.