Oconee County Commissioners To Consider Changes In Sewer Policies And In Upgrade Plans

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners Tuesday night will consider a request from its Utility Department director to increases by 28 percent the allocated capacity in the county’s sewer system for residential use.

Utility Department Director Wayne Haynie is asking the Board to set aside a policy it adopted on Dec. 2, 2008, but never actually implemented that said “that any additional capacity realized be restricted to commercial usage.”

Haynie tomorrow night also will recommend that overall sewer capacity be increased from its present 1,067,000 gallons per day to 1,900,000 gallons per day.

Haynie’s policy would be a reversal of policy prior to that 2008 vote that stated that 50 percent of sewer capacity in the county be designated for residential use.

Haynie is proposing that only 40 percent of system-wide sewer capacity be designated for residential use. He also wants to hold 10 percent of capacity in reserve.

If the 50 percent allocation were used for the 1.9 million gallons per day Haynie is recommending be built, residential sewer capacity would increase by 78 percent.

For more on this story, go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: Wayne Haynie at Commission meeting Jan. 14, 2016.