Toccoa OKs Selling Water To Banks County

The city of Toccoa agrees to sell water to Banks County.

Monday, Toccoa City Commissioners unanimously approved a Water Sales Agreement with Banks County.

Toccoa City Manager Billy Morse said that the agreement sets similar parameters to what commissioners first discussed in August.

“We will sell Banks County a minimum of 100,000 gallons a day,” said Morse. “We can provide them up to 240,000 gallons as it becomes available and it is needed. The proposed rate is $2.59 per 1000 gallons.”

According to Morse, the price is higher than both what Franklin County and the city of Demorest pay for Toccoa’s water already.

Also, he said it has a clause in the contract that adjusts the price for inflation over the years.

Morse said Toccoa’s water system and Banks County’s are just 53 feet apart and Banks County will absorb most of the cost in connecting the two systems.

He said selling Banks County this amount of water will not put Toccoa in any type of water crunch.

“Our system was engineered and built when we had two Coats American plants, we had two Milliken plants and we were generating much more water on a daily basis and without those industry, our plant is not running as efficiently as it was back in the day when we were producing five and six million gallons a day, when we are now only producing two to three million gallons a day,” said Morse. “The plant is built to produce up to nine million gallons a day, so you can see we have the water to sell.”

Also, Toccoa City Attorney John Dickerson said that the contract includes a clause that if Toccoa needs the water, the contract can be voided with providing certain notices.

Meanwhile, Morse said that selling this water to Banks County will not just provide revenue for the city of Toccoa, it will have other benefits.

“In this case, the connection will take place where we have a water blow-off,” said Morse. “That is where we actually waste water on to the ground to keep the chemicals, the chlorine in the line in that area up to the standards we are required to keep, so this would eliminate that blow-off. Not only would we stop wasting water to keep those chemicals up, but we will be able to sell it and make some revenue.”

The contract is for four five-year terms that automatically renew unless one side or the other pulls out of the agreement, making the total length of the deal up to 20 years.