Quarry owner awaits response to water proposal

The owner of a Walker County quarry still is not sure what to do with the 3 billion gallons of water in it, though the topic came up at last week's North Georgia Water Planning Council meeting.

"Nothing's going on," said Leonard Nixon. "There's just talking going on."

Mr. Nixon has pitched the idea of pumping some of the water in his closed stone quarry in Rossville to metro Atlanta. The state is under a mandate from a federal judge to wean Atlanta off Lake Lanier's water in about two and a half years.

"Everything is all talk and speculation. There isn't any action -- won't be any in the near future," said water council Vice Chairman David Ashburn.

At Wednesday's water council meeting, members heard a lecture from state geologist Dr. James Kennedy and discussed pumping water out of quarries and into municipal water supplies. Members specifically mentioned quarries in Rome, Rockmart and Mr. Nixon's quarry.

Dr. Kennedy told the group that some quarries are a feasible option to augment the state's water supply, but the subterranean structure of Northwest Georgia would make some pits better candidates than others.

"You look at each one, and some could be very useful and some could be a disaster," he said.

Dr. Kennedy said drawing a few feet of water off the top of a flooded quarry probably would not have much of an impact on the water table, but more studies would be needed for heavier withdrawals.

That step is where Mr. Ashburn, the Walker County coordinator, sees delays.

He said the quarries were a nice idea, but the expense of pumps and miles of pipes would have to be weighed against surface reservoirs, conservation measures and other options.

Mr. Ashburn compared the quarry water idea to beef.

"A cow is nice, but it's not a steak until it goes through the process, and then it becomes a nice cut of meat," he said.