The Bryan County Board of Commissioners entertained future wastewater treatment options Tuesday due to some area developers’ concerns of the cost to tap into the facility at WaterWays Township in South Bryan.
During its regular meeting in the County Administrative Complex, the board took no action on the matter but heard a presentation from Chris Stovall of Thomas and Hutton Engineering, the county’s engineering firm for water and sewer, on options for a potential upgrade to the facility located at WaterWays.
Stovall said upgrading the existing facility from a capacity of 200,000 gallons per day to 1 million gallons per day could be done in phases as needed. The first phase would allow for 300,000 additional gallons per day, for a total of 500,000 gallons. The second phase would allow for the treatment of an additional 500,000 gallons per day, for a total of 1 million gallons.
Stovall explained the existing capacity, which equates to around 667 homes, would not be enough for the expected growth over the next few years at WaterWays Township and potential subdivisions near the school’s new location.
“Roughly 35,000 gallons per day will come from the school,” Stovall said. “That’s the equivalent of 120 homes.”
After the school connects to the facility, he said, around 550 homes could be hooked into the system.
Scott Stafford, a local developer, asked county officials if other developers could tap into this system. County Administrator Phil Jones said they could, but developers would have to pay $8,000 to WaterWays for each home connected, plus any other fees to the county.
“You’d have to pay (to the county) your line share cost from where you tie into the existing system to the existing plant – whatever cost that was – in addition to the $8,000,” he said.
Stovall explained that the $8,000 payment is due to WaterWays’ agreement to pay the county for the existing wastewater treatment facility.
“The county operates it and did get the loan to build it, but WaterWays guarantees the payments on the payback of that loan, so those fees (the $8,000) are being paid to WaterWays,” Stovall said.
Read more in the Oct. 15 edition of the News.