Murray water status ‘excellent’

By Mark Millican

CHATSWORTH — Recent rains, drought predictions that have yet to materialize and a drop in commercial usage have water maven Tom Martin thinking optimistically going into the summer.

“We’re in excellent condition right now,” said the director of the Chatsworth Water Works Commission this week. “Carters Lake is at its highest level since July of 2005, according to (U.S.) Corps of Engineer records, and our other sources are good also.”

The Water Works runs lines into Murray County past the city limits, with the outlying areas being additionally served by Dalton Utilities, the city of Calhoun and the Ocoee water district. The Water Works provides around 80 percent of the county’s water needs.

“We also get water from two springs in Eton,” Martin said. “We pump 2 million gallons a day from those, and we are permitted to pump 2 million a day from Carters Lake. But currently we’re only pumping 1.6 million gallons from there.”

The Water Works also pulls in 500,000 to 600,000 gallons a day from Calhoun.

Martin said water restrictions are still in force because of last year’s drought and expectations it may not be over.

“We’re still under Level 4, the highest level, but not under the most harsh restrictions,” he said. “It does allow for outdoor watering. Up until April 1, there was no outdoor watering.”

Level 4 restrictions include:

• Watering on odd-even days based on address, except for Friday.

• Existing landscape watering between the hours of midnight and 10 a.m. on designated days.

• Only a hand-held garden hose may be used with a spray nozzle that automatically turns off when hand pressure is released, and only for 25 minutes a day.

• Newly installed landscaping in place less than 30 days may be watered up to three times a week between the same hours for 10 consecutive weeks and during plant installation. Any person watering new landscaping must sign up with the Outdoor Water Use Registration program at www.urbanagcouncil.com.

“We probably are going into a drought situation,” Martin conceded. “So conserve what you can now, and hopefully we won’t have to go past no outdoor watering. On the other hand, we’ve seen a decrease in water use among commercial and industrial consumers because of a downturn in the economy.”

The Water Works will be sending two representatives to the newly formed Coosawattee Regional Water Authority, Martin and Chatsworth city councilman Gary Brock. Two water officials each from Ellijay, Calhoun and Pickens County (Jasper) will also be part of the authority, and a ninth will be chosen by the members.

“It’s part of the state and regional water plan,” said Martin. “The city of Chatsworth is on it because we’re the primary water provider for Murray County.”

Ellijay will be hosting the first meeting next week.

“We haven’t put a whole lot of time into preparing for the first meeting, since it’s primarily organizational,” said Emory DeBord, director of the Ellijay-Gilmer County Water & Sewer Authority. “But we did put a lot of time and preparation into getting the (state) water bill passed this year.”

DeBord said Ellijay-Gilmer currently has no plans for a “particular” reservoir, but if the time comes for a regional basin, being a member of the new authority will help.

Martin said just as Chatsworth and Murray governments have arrangements regarding water use, governments represented in the authority will do likewise.

“We don’t all have to be a part of any agreement that one group is party to,” he said, “but we will have memorandums of understanding and may be a part of it. Everything will work through inter-governmental agreements such as, for example, the building of reservoirs. It’s a state perspective that these resources need to be more equitably shared.”