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Editorial: Commission should be clearer on sewer line
The lengthy volleying between Athens-Clarke County's government staff and the mayor and commission over extending sewer service into a northeastern section of the county continues to find the mayor and commission reluctant to proceed on largely environmental grounds, as government staff argues that public health concerns virtually mandate the extension.
And, as a backdrop to all of that, there's the question of how the commission will eventually decide to deal with a section of the unified government's charter that requires development of a plan "to provide water and sewer services to all residents of the county."
The latest round of the bureaucratic pingpong match over extending sanitary sewer service along Sandy Creek in the area of Commerce Road and Nowhere Road came at a Tuesday work session. A revised plan for the line was unveiled by the public utilities department, calling for construction of two sewer lines serving already-developed areas near the two roads. Installing two lines would limit damage from a spill in the event of a line break, commissioners heard at the work session.
Throughout discussion of the proposed sewer line extension, government staff has contended that sewer service will be needed in the area as the septic tanks now in use there begin to fail. Commissioners, on the other hand, have expressed concern about the possible adverse impact of installing a sewer line near the county's drinking water intake, and about the development and attendant environmental degradation a sewer line might bring to the area.
Commissioners are scheduled to vote next month on whether to add the Sandy Creek line to a sewer service delivery plan, but to this poin
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