Dwain Walden
MOULTRIE — When the Colquitt County Archway executive board asked representatives from five incorporated communities outside of Moultrie what their biggest challenges are, there was a common denominator — water and sewer.
Antiquated water and sewer systems are the concern of Doerun, Norman Park, Funston, Ellenton and Berlin. As well, Scott Brown, County Extension agent, said it’s a challenge of agriculture as well.
In a meeting Thursday evening, Archway hosted a leadership conference designed to hear the challenges of the smaller towns. Archway was launched in 2005 as a joint effort between the Colquitt County community and the University of Georgia. Archway is made up of a cross-section of community leaders whose task is to identify issues as well as resources to address them.
Berlin Mayor Dale Williams said there are many septic tanks in his town.
“We are putting septic tanks into the same ground from which we draw our water. At some point, that ratio won’t let us do that anymore,” he said.
He said the city needs a larger water tower. If the system went down, the present storage would last only two days, he said.
And Williams said the small towns in Colquitt County need a larger share of the Special Local Option Sales Tax.
“We could use a bigger piece of the pie,” he said.
But not all needs are about infrastructure.
“We could also use a grocery store such as an IGA,” he said.
Doerun City Councilman Don Senkbeil echoed Williaims’ comments on water problems, noting that Doerun has cast iron pipes in its water system older than him.
“It’s working now, but we know upgrades must be coming,” he said.
Also, he said the Doerun electric system is out of date.
Another concern of Doerun citizens, he said, is getting ready for the four-laning of Highway 133. He noted that the town decided that the four-lane should go around and not through Doerun.
“There’s a question of how do we get ready for that. How do we save our town,” he said.
Funston Councilman Jerry Smith joined in the concerns of water issues, noting that his town’s well is old.
“Funston has done a great job with what it has to work with,” he said.
He added to the list of challenges the need for street, gutter and sidewalk improvements.
Lamar Weaver, Norman Park mayor pro-tem, said his town is in need of extra water. He noted that Norman Park sits right on top of a fault that runs from North Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico. To drill a well on that fault, it has to go down 1,100 feet as opposed to 500 feet just outside of town. Such a well costs about $500,000. But that’s cheap compared to the $2 million to $4 million it would cost to replace the towns antiquated sewer system.
“I’ve come to understand that stainless steel is a ‘precious metal,’” he said jokingly.
Weaver said if someone wanted to build an apartment complext in Norman Park, the request would have to be denied.
“We are maxed out on sewer,” he said.
Voncil Kearce, mayor of Ellenton, said that town’s water tank is in immediate need of $40,000 in repairs. Ellenton is described as a town where most of the people are on fixed incomes and there are only 150 water accounts.
On a different scale, County Extension agent Scott Brown said water is becoming an issue in the farming industry as well.
He said there are 47,000 acres that have irrigation permits.
“Irrigation is necessary. And without some legislation, we forsee some problems ahead,” said Brown.
He noted that agriculture accounts for 28 percent of the county’s business. That portion came to about $422 million in 2008.
