Committee adopts substitute allowing private irrigation wells; Piedmont Water expresses concerns

The Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee took up a House-origin bill concerning private surface-water utilities and customer options. Representative Rhodes presented a committee substitute to the House bill that narrows the proposal’s scope to surface-water providers and allows property owners to drill private wells for irrigation on their parcels under defined conditions.

Adam Schaefer, chief executive officer of Piedmont Water Company, opposed the House’s original approach and called the bill “an unnecessary, overreaching attempt to impose regulation on private water providers.” Schaefer said Piedmont Water and one other private company are unique in Georgia for having privately financed surface-water systems and that the company’s recent investments—including a $15 million surface-water treatment plant—were made to keep up with rapid local growth. Schaefer told the committee private investment allowed the…