Legal battle stalls town’s reuse water plans

In fact, the years-long battle recently led the town to lose a $1.2 million federal stimulus grant it received for additional reuse water lines, according to Braselton officials.

“If there’s not a valid service delivery service strategy in the county, then every government in the county becomes ineligible for state funding or permits,” said Braselton town manager Jennifer Dees.

The issue centers on House Bill 489 — also called the service delivery strategy — which ensures that local governments in an area aren’t duplicating services, such as law enforcement and water and sewer lines.

Gwinnett County and its cities have been locked in a legal battle about the agreement for about three years. Those governments without a valid agreement can’t receive grants, loans, and permits.

For Braselton, the ineligible status only affects the town’s portion in Gwinnett County — not its jurisdiction in Jackson, Barrow and Hall counties.

But Gwinnett County is also where the majority of the town’s reuse water lines are installed — and where plans called for additional lines.

“Our plan was to put them in the areas that have sewer first,” Dees said. “And then we have a phased program that engineering-wise makes sense — where the lines go first, from the tank because it’s on Thompson Mill Road.”

Reuse water — also called gray water — is highly-treated reclaimed water that can be used for irrigation on landscapes, golf courses and recreation fields. Increasing the amount of reuse water that a community uses trims its costs to build or expand more expensive sewer treatment plants.

Reuse water isn’t intended for drinking, and its lines and other components are often designated by a purple color to note the difference from regular water lines.

Braselton’s efforts to offer reuse water were given statewide recognition in 2005, when the Georgia Municipal Association named the town one of its “Trendsetters.”

But in the six years since that designation, the town only has about 20 reuse water residential customers among the more than 7,500 residents and a number of major industries in Braselton.

All of the reuse water customers are located in Chateau Elan — which initially started accepting the recycled water to irrigate its golf courses in the early 2000s, according to Dees.

As Chateau Elan expanded its residential community, reuse water lines were installed in the newer portions of the development. The town also offered in 2009 a discount rate for new customers to install reuse water meters. Once all of the lines and meters are installed, an estimated 500 houses in Chateau Elan will be using reuse water.

The developer of Clearwater Plantation in South Hall also installed reuse water lines in that neighborhood and along Thompson Mill Road to the property, Dees said. But in the years since that main line was installed along the roadway, it has been damaged by a number of other construction projects. Town officials don’t know if it’s cheaper to repair or replace that reuse water line — which is also partially in Gwinnett County.

When Braselton initially started sending reuse water to Chateau Elan, it was stored in a pond on the property, Dees said. But to offer reuse water to residential customers, the town had to ensure a supply was available at all times.

“That’s why we built the tank — so that there’s water always available for homeowners,” Dees said.
The town built a 500,000 gallon elevated storage tank on Thompson Mill Road specifically designed for reuse water. Braselton also had to modify its water reclaimation facility on Josh Pirkle Road to include a chlorination process for reuse water and a dechlorination system to discharge the recycled water in the Mulberry River.

Its first phase of reuse water available to residential customers officially started in April 2010.

Braselton was planning to expand its reuse water lines in to older portions of Chateau Elan when the service delivery strategy disagreement resulted in the town losing a $1.2 million stimulus grant for the project.

That second phase of development would have added 332 reuse water customers to the town’s system. Eventually, Braselton anticipates having more than 2,000 reuse water customers.

The town wants to continue its reuse water program — but that largely depends on funds becoming available, Dees said.

Meanwhile, more than 260 houses in Chateau Elan and 88 in the neighboring The Gates at Chateau could tie into the town’s reuse water lines now — and not be affected by the ongoing legal issue in Gwinnett County, Dees said. Those lines were installed before the town’s Gwinnett County portion was declared ineligible to receive state grants and permits.

“We have lots more capacity than use,” Dees said.

Currently, seasonal use ranges from 12,500 gallons a day to 285,000 gallons a day. The capacity is 500,000 gallons a day.