Hahira approved for water well loan by state

Parker Wallace wrote for GPB 1 August 2012, Water Program Awards Loans,

The Governor's water supply program awarded funding to eight water supply projects across the state.

The Georgia Environmental Finance Authority and the Georgia Department of Community affairs announced more than 90 million dollars in loans.

They're aimed at helping finance water supply infrastructure.

The cities of Hahira and Vienna were approved for loans to construct new water supply wells. Newton, Oconee and Walton counties were all awarded 40 year loans to construct new reservoirs.

A bit more detail in the Montgomery Advertiser 2 August 2012, Funding flows to Georgia reservoir, water projects,

Hahira will get a 20-year, $432,000 loan for a new water supply well.

Here's the Hahira part of the GEFA PR of 1 August 2012 about the awards for the Governor's Water Supply Program. (In this year 2012, why do news articles still not link to their sources?)

City of Hahira

The city of Hahira was approved for a 20-year loan of $431,777 to construct a new water supply well and the associated treatment equipment. The new well adds 0.2434 million gallons per day (MGD) of water supply and will allow the city to maximize the storage capacity of its existing elevated storage tanks to better address future demand and increase system reliability. The total cost is $479,752, with the city contributing $47,975 in funds. Hahira will pay zero percent interest during project construction, and then 1 percent during the repayment period once construction is complete. The city will not be charged a closing fee.

That's quite a deal.

Meanwhile, Kristina Torres in the AJC 1 August 2012 couldn't be bothered to mention Hahira. It's not Atlanta, don't you know! The VDT doesn't seem to have convered the story at all. Amusing that an Alabama paper has more detail than either of those two Georgia papers.

Back to the GPB story:

But Ben Emanuel, with American Rivers, says new reservoirs not only rack up debt—they rely on inconsistent rainfall. He recommends optimizing existing water infrastructures first:

“We would like to see local leaders pursuing water efficiency as an actual source of new supply, it's by far the most cost effective, fastest to develop and most reliable source of new water supply.”

Georgia Environmental Finance Authority Director Kevin Clark says water conservation is part of their plan:

“Water supply the development of new water supply in conjunction with conservation efforts go hand in hand, they're not mutually exclusive, that's what we believe we're doing on both these fronts.”

Given that the water table hereabouts continues to fall, especially in the current drought, and Hahira's new well will only make it fall faster, I think water conservation is an excellent idea.

LAKE was at last week's Hahira City Council meeting where this well loan was discussed and approved. Video to come.

-jsq

PS: Owed to John C. Griffin.

Comments

[Barbara Stratton]

It's nice to know Hahira will get a break in interest, but tax payers will still have to pay back the loan. I missed the council meeting which is unusual for me. Does the video show anything about the fact some council members voted not to raise the tap fees for new construction which would certainly help pay back the loan instead of depending so much on tax monies? Developers should not be allowed to come in and make huge profits from new construction, then take their profits and let the citizens pay the price for increased water demands. Raising the one time tap fees would have distributed some of the costs to the developers who enjoy the profits from increased demands on the infrastructure and water usage.