Authority approves $87,438 task order to update 1986 water feasibility study; staff to assess reservoir and permitting feasibility

The Spalding County Water and Sewage Facilities Authority approved a task order in the amount of $87,438 to update a 1986 water feasibility study, the board was told. The task order, recommended by the finance committee and presented by staff, will be performed by Garver and is intended to validate the older study against today's water‑system model, costs and permitting environment.

Staff described the original 1986 study as a long‑range plan that envisioned a water plant, a reservoir, three tanks and a county loop; much of the loop and several tanks have since been installed. The update will evaluate whether the reservoir and plant concepts remain adequate, reassess scale and cost, and “determine if the state would even have the appetite to approve a new withdrawal permit,” staff said. The work is intended to inform contract renegotiation with the City of Griffin over the authority’s water contract and to identify whether an interbasin transfer or new reservoir could be feasible.

Garver's task order was described as a roughly 120‑day effort. Board members discussed the study's long timeline and permitting complexity; staff said reservoir permitting and construction could take about a decade and that validating the concept now would provide useful positioning with roughly 10 years left on the current water contract. The motion to approve the task order passed unanimously.

Why it matters: an updated feasibility study will shape the authority’s long‑term water supply strategy, possible permitting needs for a reservoir, and the authority’s negotiating posture with the City of Griffin as the current contract approaches renegotiation.