Audio clip
Don Cope
DALTON, Ga. -- Dalton Utilities will continue to extend its sewers into northern Whitfield County to help handle growth into what utility officials expect will be one of the fastest-growing parts of Northwest Georgia.
Dalton's Water Light and Sinking Fund Commission on Monday awarded a $1.6 million contract to KM Davis of Marietta, Ga., to build the third phase of a $6.2 million sewer line along Highway 201. When completed next year, the sewer lines along Highway 201 will link the Tunnel Hill treatment plant with Whitfield County's newest high school -- the Coahulla Creek High School scheduled to open in fall 2011.
"This area is predicted to be the center of population in Northwest Georgia by 2030," Dalton Utilities President Don Cope said. "The area from the Dalton bypass north to the Tennessee border is predicted to be the fastest-growing population area in this region."
Mr. Cope projected that 20 years from now, the new sewers will serve an area that could generate $10 million to $15 million a year in sewer fees from all of the new businesses and homes hooked up to the new lines.
Dalton Utilities originally had a more ambitious plan to extend sewers to the north into more neighborhoods with more new sewage treatment plants.
"That plan changed when our revenues fell in 2007 and 2008," Mr. Cope said.
Dalton Utilities came up with an alternative to connect with Tunnel Hill to ensure that sewers still could be laid to serve the new Coahulla Creek High School campus and to open up land around the Tunnel Hill exit on Interstate 75 for commercial development.
Whitfield County Schools is contributing $2.1 million to the project to gain sewers for its new high school, and Whitfield County is contributing $1 million to open up more property for industrial and commercial development.
"This plan saves the school system and the utility money and helps get this area served more immediately," Dalton Utilities spokeswoman Lori McDaniels said.
Mr. Cope said it's critical to extend sewers into more of the county to limit the use of septic tanks, which he said threaten to pollute underground and surface water.
"Over the past 10 years, we've rebuilt the entire sewer system in the city of Dalton, and we'll continue to make improvements," he said.
SEWER BILL
The $6.19 million sewer project in Tunnel Hill and Varnell will be paid for by:
* Dalton Utilities, $3.1 million
* Whitfield Schools, $2.1 million
* Whitfield County, $1 million
Source: Dalton Utilities
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