County OKs larger water lines, fees

Do you need to buy a lot of water? Columbia County's water utility is ready to sell it.

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The county commission approved a new set of "tap" fees Tuesday that will allow the largest-capacity customers access to 8-inch water lines.

Currently, the county's largest water lines for individual customers are 6 inches in diameter, but the county has received inquiries about higher-capacity lines, said county water utility Director Billy Clayton.

The service comes with a hefty up-front cost: An 8-inch water tap will cost $18,110, plus $57,700 for an accompanying sewer tap. Monthly bills aren't cheap, either: A minimum bill for 8-inch service is $2,200 "before you use a gallon of water," Clayton said.

"You've got to be pretty serious about having that kind of service," he added.

By comparison, residential customers in houses typically use water lines of 1 inch or smaller, with water tap fees ranging from $377 to $1,412 and sewer tap fees ranging from $753 to $1,130, according to the county's published fee schedule.

The first customer for a larger tap is expected to be the Pointes West Army Recreation Area at Thurmond Lake in Appling, Clayton said.

The facility's water service is operated by Richmond County's water department, which provides water service for all Fort Gordon facilities under contract from the federal government.

Though Richmond County oversees the water service at Pointes West, the water for the recreation facility is provided by Columbia County.

A single 8-inch tap would double the water capacity to the facility, Clayton said.

Also at Tuesday's meeting, the commission agreed to continue seeking a $9.1 million federal stimulus grant.

County officials recently received word that of about $50 million in grant requests, the county made "a very important cut" and now is awaiting word whether it will receive the federal stimulus-funded grant administered by the Georgia Environmental Facilities Author-ity, Clayton said.

The grant would pay for 40 percent of the projects and the county's water system for the rest, Clayton said.

The "shovel-ready" projects included in the proposal primarily involve rehabilitation of aging sewer systems throughout the county, Clayton said.

He said he does not know when an announcement of the funding will be made.

The commission also approved the $140,000 purchase of seven acres of land adjacent to the county's closed landfill.

The property would be used for the water department to store such things as water pipes and other construction materials, Clayton said.