A Newsletter of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District Volume I, Issue 1/August 2002 Decision Making And Public Involvement The District has three groups that direct and provide input to the planning process: The Governing Board is comprised of 17 elected officials and 10 citizen appointees. It is responsible for the management of the business and affairs of the District and is the primary decision-making body. The Technical Coordinating Committee (TCC) is comprised of approximately 100 members who are divided into three subcommittees: Stormwater, Wastewater, and Water Supply. The TCC is composed primarily of stormwater, wastewater, and water supply officials from counties, cities, and authorities in the District. It provides technical assistance to the Board in areas such as water treatment, wastewater management, and stormwater management. Six Basin Advisory Councils (BACs) comprised of approximately 200 total members are the focal point of the District's public involvement effort. The BACs are diverse groups of stakeholders formed by the Governing Board with representatives from environmental interests, business interests, the development community, recreation interests, agricultural interests, professional organizations, the academic community, neighborhood and homeowner organizations, civic and consumer groups, media representatives, power and natural gas interests, and religious groups. The six BACs are the Chattahoochee, Etowah, Flint, Lake Lanier, Ocmulgee, and Oconee. The BACs advise the District on the development and implementation of policy, and provide input regarding the content of District plans as they are developed. All District meetings are open to the general public. The District values the input of the public and welcomes comments throughout the planning process. Public input will be vital during public review and comment periods, and at public meetings that will be held to discuss the plans and alternatives being considered. Your support and efforts will help make these plans a reality. For more information, please visit www.northgeorgiawater.org or call 404.463.7200 or fax 404.656.6416. MNGWPD 2090 Equitable Building 100 Peachtree Street, NW Atlanta, GA 30303 PLACE STAMP HERE Bartow Cherokee Clayton Cobb Coweta DeKalb Douglas Fayette Fulton Forsyth Gwinnett Hall Henry Paulding Rockdale Walton Metro orgia Wat politan North Ge er Planning Dis trict water resou rce A Newsletter of the Metropolitan North GeorgiaWater Planning District the Volume I, Issue 1/August 2002 Chairman's Corner By Joel Cowan The Metropolitan Atlanta population has more than doubled in the past 20 years. This trend is expected to continue, necessitating integrated water solutions to accommodate the great influx of people into the metropolitan area. Water District Basics WHY was the District created? The General Assembly created the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District (District) to establish policy, create plans, and promote intergovernmental coordination of all water issues in the District. While experiencing growth and prosperity, residents living in the 16-county District area face an increasingly restrictive and complex set of water resources management challenges. Effective water resources management is vital to: Preserve and enhance the environmental quality of our watersheds, streams, and lakes; Comply with regulatory requirements; Support continued, yet sustainable, economic development of the region; and Consider the water requirements of upstream and downstream users. WHAT does the District do? The District has completed the Short-Term Wastewater Capacity Plan to address immediate wastewater capacity needs and has prepared Model Stormwater Ordinances. The major focus for the next nine months will be the development of three major plans: A District-wide Watershed Management Plan; a LongTerm Wastewater Management Plan, and a Water Supply and Water Conservation Plan. WHERE is the District? The District is a 16-county area surrounding the Metropolitan Atlanta region, including Bartow, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Paulding, Rockdale, and Walton counties. We are now beginning the difficult task of dealing with a critical water issue in the North Georgia region, and we must address current trends and future demands to ensure the availability of clean water for the next 30 years and beyond. Our efforts will make the difference for generations to come. Sincerely, Joel H. Cowan, Sr. Chairman, MNGWPD water our most precious resource. how do we ensure a quantity and quality that can be used NOW and in the FUTURE? HOW will the water plans be used? The local governments in the District area are responsible for the implementation of District water plans. Once the plans are developed, the Director of the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Department of Natural Resources will be responsible for ensuring that local governments implement the water plans. A Newsletter of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District Volume I, Issue 1/August 2002 What's a River Basin? Rainwater flows downhill in depressions and ditches to form creeks and streams. Water collects from the network of ditches, creeks, and streams, and flows into a river. The land area that is drained by the creeks, streams, and river is called a drainage basin, watershed, or river basin. Major river basins within the District are the Chattahoochee, Etowah, Flint, Ocmulgee, and Oconee. The District's planning efforts will identify basin-specific, as well as Districtwide solutions to manage water resources. Recognizing the unique qualities of each basin will help the District better address issues facing the region. METRO DISTRICT A common misconception is that water is an unlimited resource. FACTWater is finite but reusable resource. It is therefore imperative that everyone conserve, reuse, recycle and reclaim our water. Drinking Water Wastewater Limited supply Point source pollution Declining raw water quality Higher treatment standards Growing demand Increased flow volumes Stormwater Non-point pollution Volume and control Public concern Old Approach:Traditional Water Planning Traditional water planning involves three departments working independently. A Water Department produces and sells drinking water. A Sewer Department collects, treats, and returns wastewater to the environment. A Roads and Drainage Department manages stormwater runoff. With isolated roles, responsibilities, and limitations, the three departments function separately to manage the same resource--water. The District's Approach: Integrated Water Planning The integrated planning approach recognizes the premise that water is water, and manages it as a single resource. Water supply, wastewater, and stormwater issues are addressed together so that the relationship and issues among the three facets of water management are coordinated. Land use and development issues are related to overall water resource planning and are central to the District's water management problems and solutions. The integrated plans currently being prepared for the District are the first comprehensive, integrated studies of water supply, wastewater, and watershed management for any major urban area in the country. The benefits of a coordinated, integrated approach will produce superior options that will result in more efficient plans and programs. The end result will be clear connections among problems and solutions. All three draft plans are scheduled for completion in May 2003. DWrinakteinrg Drinking Water Reuse Reuse Land Land Use Use Wastewater Wastewater Source Source Water Water TMDLs TMDLs Stormwater WHAT'S HAPPENING? An Update on the Major Planning Efforts of the District Water Supply and Water Conservation Management Plan The 16-county area is expected to grow from some four million people to more than six million an amazing 50 percent increase in the next 30 years. Consider that for every two people drinking a glass of water today, one more person will be drinking water in the year 2030. We need to be able to fill that glass! There is a limited supply of potable (drinking) water in the area. Ninety-eight percent of the Atlanta region's water supply comes from surface water sources such as streams, rivers, and reservoirs. Most of our headwater rivers are small. There are few options for natural water storage, so we need reservoirs to supply drinking water. Groundwater is a limited water source because the Atlanta region does not have the porous rock geology that provides needed water supplies. The District is assessing whether current water supplies are sufficient for the region's anticipated growth. The District's Water Supply and Water Conservation Management Plan will estimate water supply needs of the District through the year 2030 and decide the most effective, efficient way to meet anticipated demands. Several options to meet the growing needs for drinking water will be considered. Among them: conserving the current water supply, expanding water supply sources already in use, and finding new sources. A draft of the Plan will be ready in May 2003. You will receive information as work continues on addressing the balance of water supply and demand, the different options being considered, and the solutions developed to meet the District's drinking water needs through 2030. Wastewater Management Plan Watershed Management Plan By the year 2030, wastewater service needs in the 16-county District will greatly increase beyond the capacities of existing facilities. As the area becomes more densely populated, more sewers will be needed to collect wastewater, and more treatment capacity will be needed to clean and reclaim the water. In some areas, septic tanks and localized treatment could continue to serve future needs, while other areas will need to rely upon larger regional systems. The Long-term Wastewater Management Plan will compile the projected needs across the 16 counties, and recommend alternative solutions that could be implemented as part of the District's overall water resources management strategy. As a region, we are emerging from an outdated notion of water abundance, toward the reality of water as a limited resource. We are also moving away from the outdated ethic of managing wastewater as a nuisance to be thrown away. Wastewater can provide a future opportunity for this region when properly viewed as "water with another future use."In this light, we will be looking for the longterm wastewater management opportunities that best preserve our environment and sustain our water supplies. Technologically advanced approaches to wastewater reclamation and reuse are likely to become increasingly important throughout the District. Key challenges for the wastewater planners include defining the appropriate treatment levels, facility locations and sizes, intergovernmental arrangements, and management policies. Another important challenge is to develop a plan that deliberately supports the connections between wastewater, water supply, and watershed management goals. The tremendous population and economic growth in the District has been accompanied by corresponding changes in land use. Historically, rural counties once dominated by farms, forests, and rural residences are transitioning into suburban neighborhoods, office parks, and commercial centers. Many of the established, urban counties are seeing a surge in development. In addition to the many positive aspects of this growth, new challenges for managing the integrity of our water resources have been created. With new developments come increases in sediment runoff to streams, higher peak flows, and associated pollutants. These factors are particularly difficult to manage since watershed boundaries generally do not follow local political boundaries, in which the majority of land use decisions are made. The District is currently studying ways to manage the quality and quantity of stormwater, address the concerns and impacts common to all watersheds, and provide some watershed-specific information for each river basin. The intent of the District-Wide Watershed Management Plan is to develop regional policies, example rules, and water quality goals for local governments that are consistent with state and federal laws. The plan builds upon existing watershed planning efforts by local governments in the District, as well as plans developed by the State.