Sewer Plant On Middle Oconee River Center Of Focus At Oconee County Commission Work Session

Oconee County officials changed course Wednesday, focusing their attention at a meeting on water and sewer issues less on the proposed upgrade to the Calls Creek wastewater treatment plant and more on the possibility of building a sewage plant on the Middle Oconee River.

Paula Feldman, lead-off speaker at the Board of Commissioners work session, set the stage, telling the Commissioners at the beginning of her talk that the recommendations in the 2005 Long Range Wastewater Strategies document “are still good and sound.”

That report recommended expansion of the Calls Creek plant but also construction of a new Middle Oconee River facility.

Utility Department Director Wayne Haynie next said that “as we embark on expansion at Calls Creek, there’s no reason why we couldn’t one day transition over to a Middle Oconee plant and have both facilities.”

Haynie said the Middle Oconee plant could start small and be expanded later as need arises.

Oconee County Commission Chairman John Daniell summarized the new thinking succinctly: “Basically, the 2005 plan is pretty much holding up. We need to be somewhere on the Middle Oconee.”

The major obstacle is cost, with Haynie telling the Board that even the expansion of the Calls Creek plant to 1.5 million gallons per day, which he estimated a year ago to cost $7 million, now is expected to be $13.5 million.

Pictured: Commissioners Chuck Horton, Left, And John Daniell.