FAQs
Q. I have heard that CCWSA may be building two new wastewater treatment plants in
northern Cherokee County. What is being proposed and what is the status of the
proposed plants?
Water and sanitary sewer infrastructure is complex, capital intensive, and can take
years from planning stages to operable infrastructure. CCWSA is proposing to build two
new wastewater treatment facilities in northern Cherokee County. The Northeast
Cherokee Wastewater Treatment Facility would be located near the Etowah River just
south of Ball Ground off of Cokers Chapel Road. The proposed Northwest Cherokee
Wastewater Treatment Facility will serve both the City of Canton and CCWSA
customers and will be located west of Canton and slightly north of the Etowah River. The
Northeast Cherokee Wastewater Treatment Facility is part of the plans of the
Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District approved in 2003. The NE Plant is
currently in the final stages of permitting by Georgia EPD. If the permit is approved, it is
expected that construction of this plant will take approximately 2 years.
The Northwest Facility was approved by the Metropolitan North Georgia Water
Planning District to be added to its long-term wastewater treatment plans by an
affirmative Board vote at its October 2007 meeting. CCWSA will begin the permit
application process for this facility in the near future. The process of obtaining a National
Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for a new wastewater treatment
facility can take as much as a year or more to complete. Georgia EPD thoroughly
reviews, analyzes and models the permit application documents and the impact of the
proposed facility on the environment. There are several opportunities during the
permitting process for the general public to have input on the proposed permit.
Q. Why does Cherokee County need more than one wastewater treatment facility? Would
not one large wastewater treatment facility be better than several smaller ones?
The topography of Cherokee County and the location of Lake Allatoona dictate
that several wastewater treatment facilities are required within the county to yield
reasonable travel time of wastewater from homes/businesses to a treatment facility.
Excessive travel time can result in undesirable odor levels and other treatment challenges
when the raw wastewater enters a distant treatment facility, and can severely impact the
cost and sizing of collection system infrastructure.
Q. I am worried about the on-going drought in Georgia. What preparations has CCWSA
made to assure an adequate supply of water for Cherokee County during drought
events?
The raw water source for drinking water in Cherokee County is the Etowah River.
As a response to drought events in the late 1980’s CCWSA undertook a project on behalf
of the citizens of the county to build a drought contingency reservoir to fortify Cherokee
County’s water supply against future drought events. In 2000 the Authority placed its
Lathem Drought Contingency Reservoir into operation. This reservoir is used to
supplement flow in the Etowah River when our withdrawals exceed 6.5 million gallons
per day in 24 hours or 5.4 million gallons per day on a monthly average when the river
flow at our Etowah River Water Treatment Facility falls to 192 cubic feet per second or
less. During the drought of 2007 we released 1.447 billion gallons over the span of 115
release events (August 5 – December 16, 2007). Given the fact that we also return over 5
million gallons per day of highly treated reclaimed water from our wastewater treatment
facilities to the Etowah River basin, our impact on the status of the river on a daily basis
when release events occur is essentially zero. CCWSA constructed this drought
contingency reservoir in response to the drought events of the late 1980’s, and its true
value has been proven during the 2007 drought event. CCWSA has recently completed a
major expansion of our Etowah River Water Treatment Facility to an operable capacity
of 38 million gallons per day. This treatment facility provides drinking water for current
and future demands.
Q. How have State actions during the current drought event affected the ability of
CCWSA to provide water to its customers?
Although CCWSA made preparations for drought events so water service levels
to its customers could continue uninterrupted, the drought event of 2007 negatively
affected so many other water systems in North Georgia that the Governor called for the
implementation of extreme conservation measures, effectively and artificially limiting the
amount of water CCWSA is permitted to provide to its customers.
Q. What does the term “non-point source pollution” mean? Is CCWSA responsible for
controlling non-point source pollution?
Non-point source pollution is the term given to that quantity of pollution that is
carried off the land by primarily by rainfall. There are specific laws in Georgia that relate
to the control of storm-water runoff from land. Land development in Cherokee County is
subject to rigorous post-construction storm-water rules to control the impact of new
development on our water resources. The Cherokee County Government is the
responsible government agency for storm-water control and compliance. CCWSA and
the Cherokee County Government have worked cooperatively on an intensive watershed
assessment and protection planning effort for the Upper Etowah River from Allatoona
Dam to the headwaters in Lumpkin County. This voluntary effort partners with Lumpkin,
Dawson, Pickens, Forsyth, Cobb, and Bartow counties, as well as Cobb County/Marietta
Water Authority and Etowah Water & Sewer Authority. In cooperation with the Georgia
EPD, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the
US Geological Survey, and the US Army Corps of Engineers, this group of local
sponsors is funding a 6+ million dollar study over a 6-year period of time to develop data
about the quality and quantity of water resources in the Upper Etowah River Basin. It is
expected that this work will yield data that will be valuable in our on-going efforts to
keep the Etowah River and Lake Allatoona clean and healthy. It will also allow us to
properly target public resources, resources that are always in limited supply, towards the
challenges that yield the greatest return in our efforts to protect and improve our water
resources. CCWSA has always been proactive in the protection of our precious natural
water resources.
Q. Does CCWSA ever have spills of raw sewage from its collection system?
The answer is yes. No sewage collection system is completely sealed so it will
never leak. However, CCWSA is ever diligent to use its best efforts to minimize such
occurrences. In calendar year 2006, CCWSA responded to 12 sewage spills. Of these 12,
two were caused by construction work breaking sewer lines, three were caused by
mechanic failures in the system, and seven were caused by grease, roots, or other debris
in the sewer lines. These spills resulted in the release of 181,552 gallons of wastewater in
total. To give this perspective, this is 181,552 gallons out of a total 2.1 billion gallons of
wastewater that traversed our collection system and was treated in our wastewater
treatment facilities in 2006, a mere 9 one-thousandths of one percent of total flow. In
2007 CCWSA had 13 sewage spills that resulted in the release of 68,190 gallons of
wastewater. Ten of the spills were associated with debris or grease in the collection
system. The other three were associated with construction work on or around sewer lines.
CCWSA reduced the total volume of wastewater spilled in the system during 2007 by
62% over what occurred in 2006.
Q. What steps/actions has CCWSA taken to minimize sewage spills?
It remains the CCWSA goal to have no spills at all. This is the goal we work
towards everyday. CCWSA has a rigorous grease management program that targets
restaurants and other businesses that use or generate large amounts of grease that may
enter the sewer system. It is more difficult, however, to regulate the activities of the
average homeowner who may be inclined to dump waste cooking oil down the drain.
CCWSA is making efforts to educate the public so the negative impact to the sewer
system is minimized. We have also experienced vandalism of the sewer system where
persons unknown will open a manhole and drop in foreign materials such as rocks,
bricks, lumber, sticks, etc. that can cause severe negative impact to the system. It is
difficult to catch such vandals in the act. CCWSA employs full time crews tasked with
maintenance and inspection of our wastewater collection and conveyance system. Sewer
rights-of-way are mowed for ease of access and to prevent, to the extent possible, plant
root intrusion into sewer lines. CCWSA has a portable sewer camera system with which
we are able to televise real-time conditions of a given section of sewer main, and assess
what, if any, repairs are necessary. CCWSA has a portable water jet apparatus that
enables quick and efficient clearing of line stoppages, such as those caused by grease.
Does CCWSA report sewage spills to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division?
CCWSA reports all of its spills, regardless of volume, to EPD and pays the fines
EDP assesses for these occurrences. EPD defines a “major” spill as a volume greater than
10,000 gallons. In 2006 CCWSA experienced four spills that met this criteria. Likewise
in 2007 two spills met this criteria.
Q. There are many septic tanks in Cherokee County. Do septic tanks ever leak raw
sewage?
It is worth noting that highly regulated public sewer infrastructure provides
wastewater treatment for individual homes and business that would otherwise need to use
poorly regulated individual septic tanks or, potentially, private wastewater treatment
facilities. The number of spills and the amount of runoff from septic tanks in Cherokee
County is a huge unknown. The damage to our water resources from septic tank spills
and runoff is difficult to quantify.
Q. Who determines how much CCWSA customers pay for water and sewer services?
The Board of Directors of Cherokee County Water & Sewerage Authority is the
governing body that sets rates for CCWSA customers. While considering rate
adjustments, the Board works diligently to balance the necessity to cover the costs for
drinking water and wastewater treatment operations, maintenance, and existing
infrastructure upgrades with the equally important goal of remaining affordable to its
customers. Many factors impact the cost CCWSA incurs to provide services, such as the
price of electricity, gas, new and expanded rules and regulations from EPD and EPA, and
the age of our infrastructure. These factors are unique to our system. Because of system
uniqueness water and sewer use charges are not uniform across Georgia and never will
be. It is noteworthy that the true cost of water and sanitary sewer services are reflected in
CCWSA user rates since it is does not receive any type of tax revenue to subsidize
operations in a way that would keep user rates artificially low. CCWSA works constantly
to control its cost of operation.
Q. What is the difference between a monthly water/wastewater service bill and a facilities
connection fee for new buildings that hook onto CCWSA services?
Monthly use charges pay for the day-to-day operations and maintenance of the
CCWSA treatment facilities. CCWSA charges a facilities connection fee to new
customers desiring to tap into the system for service. The facilities connection fee is a
primary way for new users to pay their pro-rata share of the capital costs of treatment
capacity development. Facilities connection fees, like user rates, are set from time to time
by the CCWSA Board of Directors, and the fee amount reflects the costs of construction
and financing CCWSA incurs in the development additional treatment facilities.
Q. Why is my water “cloudy” or “milky” colored?
When water has been shut off at the main, this sometimes causes air in the lines. The color that you are seeing is probably due to this. You can check by filling a glass with water and letting it sit for a short time. If the water clears up, there is air in the line. To remove air from the line, turn on the cold water taps in your house and let them run for 5-10 minutes. If you still have a problem, call Customer Service at 770-479-1813.
Q. My water is “muddy”. How can I clear it up?
This is probably due to sediment in the line from a water main break. Turn on all the cold water taps and let them run for 5-10 minutes. Also, run your washing machine through a cold cycle before doing any laundry.
Q. What are the white particles in my water?
This may be due to a faulty dip tube in your hot water heater. Sometimes the plastic in the tube breaks down and this can clog your faucets and showerheads. You can find more information on the Internet. One web site is www.homerepair.about.com. (Subject: Water Heaters)
Q. Is there lead in my water?
Lead is not in the public water supply when it leaves our treatment plants. However, if your plumbing lines have lead solder or fixtures containing lead, your water could contain lead if it sits in your lines over a long period of time. Running the water for 15 to 30 seconds will clear out any lead that may be present.
Q. Who is responsible for the water lines from the meter to my house?
The CCWSA maintains the lines from the water main to the meter box, and the water meter. The homeowner is responsible for the line from the meter to the house.
Q. Why are colored flags or paint marks on my lawn?
We are required by law to mark our water lines any time a contractor will be excavating near our water mains. Flags or paint marks show the location of utility lines in the area.
There are different colors to indicate the different utilities.
Blue = Water
Green = Sewer
Red = Electric
Yellow = Gas
Orange = TV
Q. Why has my water bill doubled?
A high bill might be an indication of a leak or a misread meter. We recommend two tests to determine if there is a problem.
Misread Test
Compare the current reading on your water bill against the reading that is on your meter. If the reading on the meter is smaller than the reading on your bill, we have misread your meter. If this is the case, please contact Customer Service at 770-479-1813 and we will have someone verify the reading. Your bill will be adjusted to the new reading.
Two Hour Leak Test
At a convenient time for you, go out to your water meter and write down the reading on your meter. During this time, make sure that no one is using water in the house. If you have an icemaker, make sure that it is turned off. Wait 2 HOURS and go back and read the meter again. If the numbers have changed AT ALL, you could possibly have a leak. If you are unable to locate a leak, you might want to consider contacting a plumber. CCWSA is not responsible for leaks occuring between the meter or inside the home or business.
You can check to see if your toilet is leaking by putting a few drops of food coloring in the tank. If the toilet is leaking, the food coloring will show in the toilet bowl in about ½ hour.
Always keep in mind that if you have been watering your lawn or garden, this will cause an increase in your water bill. To determine how much, write down your meter reading before and after you water and calculate how many gallons you used. A rate chart is provided under the Billing Procedures tab.
Q. Why is my water off?
If your account is delinquent and you have not made arrangements or if you have had a returned check, your service has probably been disconnected. Water service will be reinstated during normal business hours following the receipt of payment in full of the account balance and a reconnect charge of $50.00. A reconnect charge of $150.00 will be required if service is reconnected after hours, on weekends or holidays.
If your water is off due to a main break, the length of time you will be without water depends on the work needed to repair the break. Call Customer Service at 770-479-1813 for an estimated time when water service will be restored.
Q. Why wasn’t I notified in advance of my water being shut off?
When routine maintenance or new installation on water lines is scheduled, there will be road signs posted on the streets that will be effected. This will notify you if your water service will be interrupted. However, in emergency situations, individual notification is not given before the water is turned off.