Grovetown works to improve sewers, build water capacity

Ongoing water and sewer improvement projects in Grovetown are causing outdoor watering restrictions, but with the goal of eventually solving such restrictions.

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Work started in November to install new water lines along Wrightsboro Road from Trudeau Trail to the entrance of Euchee Creek subdivision, and to extend sewer lines from the Willowick pump station to Milton Hitt Road.

The second, and largest, of the projects is upgrading the water main along Robinson Avenue to a 12-inch line that will run up Williams Street to Georgia Iron Works and along Robinson Avenue from Trudeau Trail to Summerfield. The project also includes booster pump station upgrades.

The Robinson Avenue line is installed as far west as the police station.

The $3.6 million project is funded by 1-percent sales tax funds, a Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority loan and $1 million in federal stimulus funds.

The project also calls for a 750,000-gallon water storage tank to replace the 250,000-gallon tank behind the former Grovetown post office.

The tank has been removed and crews are working to replace it with the new one, hence the water restrictions, Public Works Director Michael Woods said.

"We lost a lot of (water storage) capacity," he said.

The city experienced water shortages in the high-use summer months in 2008 and 2009 and city officials asked residents to restrict their water use. The new tank should solve that problem, Woods said.

In the meantime, city residents with even-numbered addresses are allowed to water outdoors from midnight to 10 a.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Those with odd-numbered addresses may water during the same time on Wednesday, Friday and Monday. No outdoor watering is allowed on Monday.

Woods said the tank should be finished by midsummer.

The Robinson Avenue lines are expected to be completed before summer ends, but crews still have to go back and make all the tie-ins, Woods said. Some residents might be without water briefly while crews make the tie-ins.

"We will definitely notify everybody when we're doing that," Woods said.

Other city residents in the Euchee Creek subdivision, currently served by the county water system, will likely get their water and sewer service from the city after the construction is complete.

In the subdivision, 227 properties are inside the city, while the other 106 are Columbia County residents outside the city limits. Currently, all Euchee Creek residents receive water/sewer service from the county.

City officials want city residents in the subdivision to receive city service. A city water line to the subdivision is complete, and a master sewer meter needs to be installed.

City and county officials are still discussing the details of the changeover.

"Certainly before anything took place or a conversion was made, we would as well notify them (residents)," said Billy Clayton, director of Columbia County the Water Utility. "We'll make the transition as easy as we can possibly make it for the customer."