A handful here; a handful there.
Manageable, but without some care, they could pretty soon leave a mess on their hands.
The first handful for the Eatonton-Putnam Water and Sewer Authority started about an hour before its 4:30 p.m. monthly board meeting last Thursday. That was when EPWSA learned their lease on the bulk of the old National Guard armory property on Oak Way was expiring—on that very day.
The situation brought on a discussion of possible options. However, the situation proved not only quite manageable, but also raised the possibility of change, if not opportunity. They simply voted to ask for an extension of the lease.
Part of the reasoning was to settle the immediate problem, but another part was to “buy time” in which to study future arrangements now that the issue had been raised.
The county government owns the property, and EPWSA has been its chief tenant under a “friendly lease” – as in a dollar a year – since 2007 when it was formed.
It was County Commissioner Bill Sharpe who raised possible actions for the board to consider: the county donating the entire facility to EPWSA, while moving the County Extension Service offices to the county administration building and simply extending the lease.
A second handful proved a little more literal but pointed to an ongoing problem for property owners and water-and-sewer entities in small towns and big cities alike. In his report to the board about EPWSA operations during the past month, ESG project manager Brice Doolittle talked about going to check on a failed sewer line. The site had standing water in a ditch between two houses and Doolittle told the work crew there was “no way,” in that location, that the problem could be sewage. He demonstrated to the work crew by putting his hand down into the pipe.
He was wrong. There was a way. True, both houses had sewer lines leading out toward the street and the main sewer line. However, one made a sharp turn to the right to tap into the neighbor’s line.
Apparently, it was cheaper that way than a tap fee. It solved one homeowner’s immediate problem, at least for a few weeks, perhaps even until next year, maybe even until the next generation—and it was buried in the ground: out-ofsight, out-of-mind.
Workmanship did not help. The joints were sealed with electrical tape, which eventually crumpled and rotted, leading to the leak.
On other topics:
• The board formalized a policy for dealing with appeals of water bills with large volume – and large cost – leaks. The property owner would still have to pay for the water portion of the bill, since EPWSA had purchased the water from the Sinclair Water Authority. However, since EPWSA did not have to treat the wastewater, any sewer charge on the bill could be forgiven.
Last month, both the Peoples Bank and the county sheriff’s department asked for some form of relief from $13,000 and $24,000 bills, respectively, that arrived after leaks in large 4-inch mains serving the bank’s former Sinclair facility and the county jail. The bank thus got $1,000 off under the leak protection program for all customers, and the jail’s bill was cut roughly in half.
“The water system had a cost,” board member Judd Doster said.
“The difference was because of sewer versus non-sewer, not public and private.”
• Doolittle reported that the updated work on the operations building at the Westside treatment plant was virtually complete. A ceremony is being planned.
• Doolittle also reported that 342 new customers had been added since March.