The Walker County Commission on Thursday night approved $5 million in federal COVID stimulus funds toward an ambitious $45 million water and sewer improvement plan.
Giving approval were Chairman Shannon Whitfield and Commissioners Robert Blakemore, Mark Askew and Brian Hart. Robert Stultz was absent.
The plan includes a new $12 million gallon per day water treatment plant replacement on Lee Clarkson Road in Chickamauga costing $11.4 million.
A plan to discontinue sending sewage to the Moccasin Bend Sewage Treatment Plant and divert those discharges to its own treatment plant off Highway 27 in Chickamauga was put at $8.7 million.
Putting in pipes from the water treatment plant at Chickamauga along Glass Mill Road and Old Bethel Road to the intersection of Highway 341 will cost $7.310 million.
Another line is go to along Tatum Road up Lookout Mountain to the McLemore Hotel and Conference Center that is under construction on top of the mountain. Two 500,000-gallon water storage tanks will be built on top of Lookout. Three pump stations will be required. That will cost $7.5 million.
There will be a new storage tank at the upgraded water treatment plant costing $3.010 million.
A water main extension will be built from the Coke Oven wellfield to the Mountain View storage tanks, costing $5.2 million.
Another water line extension will go from the Flarity Road section on Lookout Mountain at the Alabama line to Highway 157 and north to Camp Adahi Girl Scout camp. The cost is $2,070 million.
Chairman Whitfield said the Walker County Water and Sewage Authority will put $20 million into the project - bringing $25 million on hand to get started. He said $20 million is being sought from the state of Georgia's Office of Planning and Budget. That would also be from American Rescue Plan funds.
He said if some or all of that does not come through, the county could fall back on funds from a federal infrastructure bill.
Chairman Whitfield said the new water treatment plant will utilize membrane filtration technology, and has been planned and is currently under development. He said, "The centralized treatment plant will remedy the problem of running all groundwater sources through multiple treatment locations."
He said it will help eliminate choke points." He said some of the new lines will help with problems of excessive high pressure in lines.
Chairman Whitfield said Chattanooga several years ago was charging Walker County about $60,000 per month to treat its sewage. He said, due to Chattanooga being under a consent decree from the EPA, that has risen to over $200,000 per month and is "not sustainable." He said the amount goes up 7-10 percent most years. He said it is computed that the project to have Walker County treat its own sewage would pay for itself in eight years. He said the sewage pipe project, which will involve a number of pump stations in hilly terrain, is ready to go once approvals are given. It is expected to be complete by the fourth quarter of 2023.
He also said that Walker County's current sewer pipes are terra cotta and are nearing the end of their life cycle.
The new line is to go along Highway 2 with multiple pump stations to the Highway 27 bypass and on to a sewer connection at Osborne Road.
Chairman Whitfield said the project will also put Walker County in place to eventually treat sewage from the city of Rossville, which also sends its sewage to Chattanooga. Rossville has completed an engineering feasibility study to connect to Walker County's system.
On the line up Lookout Mountain, Chairman Whitfield noted that Walker County currently provides no water service on top of Lookout Mountain, though large sections of it are within Walker County. He said Dade County has informed Walker County that, due to the growth on the top of Lookout Mountain, it does not have the capacity or the required water to furnish all the needs. He said Dade County may eventually buy water from Walker County.
Concerning the Flarity Road project, he said residents within a 10-mile radius in Walker County have no water supply. He said it was worked out that Fort Payne would supply that area. However, he said that was blocked due to state regulations. He said the plan is for Walker County to build a pipe going from Flarity Road to the Fort Payne pipe line at the state line.
Chairman Whitfield said tests were carried out on the capacity of the water aquifer at Chickamauga. He said 12 million gallons of water were removed from the water source on successive days. He said the water level dropped seven feet, but it recovered in less than an hour.
He said the projects will provide water storage and many new fire hydrants to aid in fire protection and bring insurance savings to residents.