Public water should soon be available to residents along Harris Lord Cemetery Road and Bolton Gordon Road in eastern Jackson County.
The Jackson County Water and Sewerage Authority approved advertising for bids for a project budgeted at just over $700,000. It will extend a line on Hoods Mill Road under U.S. 441, under the Norfolk-Southern Rail line, east on Harris Lord Cemetery Road, and east on Bolton Gordon Road to Georgia Hwy. 334.
What the budget does not reflect is a planned connection with the Commerce water system that remains up in the air. The authority’s 2012 budget calls for spending $170,000 for its share of a pump station and connection to Commerce, but talks between the two systems have fallen off somewhat after it became clear that the city could not provide the 1.5 million gallons a day originally proposed and, to date, the two groups have not approved an intergovernmental agreement spelling out the details.
The connection would provide both entities sources of backup water. Commerce has no backup supplier in the event that its water plant goes out of service, and Jackson County seeks a backup in case its supply from the Bear Creek Reservoir is interrupted. Originally, the authority proposed a booster pump station capable of moving 1.5 million gallons a day. Subsequently, Commerce revealed that the best it could provide via a connection at that point was less than half that amount, at which point discussions had ground to a halt as of last week.
“We’re still interested in the connection,” city manager Clarence Bryant insisted on Friday. “I think we’re waiting to get some technical information back from them.”
The authority also firmed up its figures for the cost of extending a four-inch water line down Wheeler Cemetery Road 2,280 feet from Wheeler Lane to the county’s equestrian center adjacent to Hurricane Shoals Park.
The cost is estimated at $25,000, including a $4,000 contingency fee, and would be paid by the Jackson County Recreation Department.
“It’s going to cost a tad more than what the county had budgeted,” observed manager Eric Klerk, who proposed that the cost be approved by the board of commissioners before the authority authorizes the project.
The water authority would run the line 2,280 feet to the entrance of the park, where it will install a two-inch meter. The county would install a service line leading to the arena.
