Contact: A. Roy Fowler, III, General Manager, Cobb County - Marietta Water Authority, 1660 Barnes Mill Road, Marietta, GA 30062, 770/426-8788, 770/426-9092 (fax), CCMWA@aol.com
Jurisdiction(s) Involved
Cobb, Cherokee, and Paulding counties; Douglasville/Douglas County Water and Sewer Authority; and the cities of Marietta, Austell, Kennesaw, Powder Springs, Smyrna, Mountain Park, and Woodstock.
Description of Effort
The Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority (Authority) is a public utility providing treated drinking water on a wholesale basis to thirteen retail water customers. The purpose of the Authority is to acquire an adequate source or sources of water supply and to treat this water for distribution by Cobb County and the various municipalities in Cobb County and to the water systems of adjoining counties and municipalities. The Authority can sell and deliver water directly to consumers in those areas where the county or a municipality is not furnishing water. The Authority has no taxing power or legal right to obtain appropriations from any governmental body.
In the early 1950s, when Cobb County was experiencing significant post-World War II development, it received all of its potable water supply from Atlanta. Marietta had community wells.
Cobb County and the City of Marietta realized that limited supplies of safe drinking water could limit growth. To address this concern, County and City leadership put in motion the creation of an Authority. The remaining municipalities within the county were invited to join, but declined participation at that time. In February of 1951, the General Assembly of the State of Georgia passed legislation creating the Authority, as a political subdivision of the State.
Once created, the Authority issued bonds, constructed facilities and established revenue generation mechanisms. By 1953, the Authority had a raw water intake on the Chattahoochee River and a water treatment plant in East Cobb County. Storage tanks and the wholesale distribution system followed.
In the early 1960s, the Authority foresaw the limitations of and competition for water supply from the Chattahoochee River. The Authority contracted with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1963 to withdraw water from Lake Allatoona beginning in 1965, for a period of 50 years. Thus, the Authority became the first multi-source water system in the State.
Since its creation, the Authority has become a regional wholesale water provider. Potable water is supplied on a wholesale basis to distribution systems owned by Cobb, Cherokee, and Paulding counties; Douglasville/Douglas County Water and Sewer Authority; the cities of Marietta, Austell, Kennesaw, Powder Springs, Smyrna, Mountain Park, and Woodstock; as well as Lockheed Corporation and Southern College of Technology.
The Authority owns and operates two water treatment plants: the James E. Quarles Plant, treating water from the Chattahoochee River and rated at 64 mgd; and the Hugh A. Wyckoff Plant, treating water from Lake Allatoona and rated at 72 mgd. It currently obtains its raw water from the Chattahoochee River and Lake Allatoona and groundwater sources are being investigated.
Managerial Considerations
The Authority is governed by a seven member Board. The Board appoints a General Manager to be responsible for daily operation and administration of the Authority. One member of the Board is the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Cobb County, whose term runs concurrently with the term of the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners. (All other members of the Authority serve four-year terms.) One member is selected by the governing authority of the City of Marietta. Four members, residents of the unincorporated area of Cobb County, are selected by a caucus consisting of all members of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia whose districts are wholly or partially within Cobb County. One member is selected on a rotating basis by the governing authority:
of the City of Acworth, in those years in which end with the numeral 4;
of the City of Austell, in those years in which end with the numeral 8;
of the City of Kennesaw, in those years in which end with the numeral 2;
of the City of Powder Springs, in those years in which end with the numeral 6; and
of the City of Smyrna, in those years in which end with the numeral 0.
Repeated droughts in the Atlanta area in the 1980s necessitated water restrictions and highlighted that the region’s water resources are limited. The Authority realized that management of these limited resources was essential. A Long-Range Water Supply Master Plan was prepared in 1988 and updated in 1996 providing the basis for satisfying projected demands in the Authority’s service area through the year 2050.
The detailed 50-year strategic plan is based on the most feasible, cost-effective combination of water supply and demand reduction options. For the 1996 update, water demand projections included the use of trends in per capita water use, population projections.
and rates of growth as well as consideration of the competing demands place on the available water resources and the water allocation negotiations with Alabama and Florida. A Water Conservation Plan was also prepared. Water supply options were investigated including surface, groundwater, water conservation, and wastewater reuse options.
Long-range water supply alternatives were developed by combining individual water supply options. Four alternatives were identified and evaluated on the basis of both economic and non-economic factors. The economic factors include: capital cost, annual O&M cost, and total present worth. Non-economic factors include the extent to which the option met the following objectives: the projected water demands of the service area, making maximum use of existing water withdrawal and treatment facilities, balancing water supply sources within the service area as much as possible and minimizing water transfer from one river basin to another. All four alternatives assumed that the water conservation program would continue.
Technical Considerations
In 1995, about 90 percent of the Authority’s water demand was from within the jurisdictional boundaries of Cobb County. The remaining 10 percent of the demand was from areas within Cherokee, Paulding and Douglas counties. Water use by 12 of the existing wholesale customers is measured by master meters. The Cobb County Water System is charged the difference between total production and the combined use of the 12 other customers. Fulton County, which had bought water from the Authority since the early 1970s, ceased purchasing water in 1992.
The Authority delivers finished water to its 13 wholesale customers through a 184-mile transmission system. The system consists of water mains ranging in size from 20 to 54 inches in diameter, with the largest amount (42 percent) being 36-inch. The system is looped, allowing each plant to provide water to any point in the system. In an emergency, either plant, alone, can provide water to the system for a period of one to three days, depending on actual conditions. The transmission system, including connections to outside customers, lies entirely within Cobb County. Storage facilities are located throughout the system for demand equalization, fire protection, and emergency conditions.
The Authority is run by professionals who possess the managerial, technical and financial skills needed to assure the provision of safe drinking water. The Authority management empowers staff to pursue innovation for continued success and improvement. The Authority won the EPA Region 4 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Excellence Award for Public Water Supply.
The Authority constantly monitors system pressures, tank levels and bacterial sampling points to determine any distribution problems or contamination of the system. In-house laboratory personnel provide technical advice and consultation verifying results and/or procedures performed by operating staff. Training is ongoing for all employees including those who hold the highest certification. Merit raises promote increased training and certification achievement.
Financial Considerations
The Authority operates as an enterprise system, i.e. the cost (including depreciation) of providing services is financed through user charges. It is financed and operated in a manner similar to private business enterprises. Water sales, services and bond proceeds provide all revenues to the Authority. It receives no public tax support.
In 1988, debt service was reduced $4.4 million by refinancing existing bonds through the year 2005. In 1993, refinancing was again used to reduce debt service by another $1.8 million without extending the debt service period. By the year 2005, all outstanding bonds will be paid. The Authority has no plans for future borrowing. Rather, the Authority has developed a comprehensive capital
improvements program through the year 2015. This program provides for the expansion and growth of the system through a closely monitored financial plan that involves the use of revenues to finance the capital improvements program. Each year the capital improvements program is updated.
The Authority uses long-term (usually 50-year) contracts to establish wholesale rates. Under the terms of the contracts with customers located inside of Cobb County, the Authority is the exclusive
source of water for Cobb County and the Cities of Austell, Kennesaw, Marietta, and Smyrna. The City of Powder Springs is allowed to use water from its own wells. Under the terms of the contracts with customers located outside of Cobb County, with the exception of the City of Mountain Park, the Authority is the non-exclusive source of water. The Authority is presently the only source of water for Paulding County and the City of Woodstock. Fulton County developed another source of water on the Chattahoochee River and now uses the Authority as a standby source of water.
As part of their contracts, the Authority’s customers agreed to establish and maintain rates, fees, charges, and tolls for water distributed to their users sufficient in amount to assure their ability to perform their obligations under their contract. The Authority and each customer agreed that all payments due the Authority are to be made from water or water and sewer revenues only.
Rates are determined by the Authority. The Authority has adjusted its base rate schedules on 14 occasions since 1962. In 1997, the rates for both in- and out-of-county customers were the lowest in the Metro Atlanta area. The Authority may not increase base rates to customers located outside of Cobb County unless it increases base rates to those within Cobb County. The base water rates to Cobb County and to all customers within the county are uniform. The base rates are uniform among customers outside Cobb County also, but are higher than base rates charged to customers within Cobb County.
Outcomes
The Authority held the philosophy that government should run as a business long before the idea spread across government and utility management reform. The early decision to take water service provision out of city hall and place it into a private system that has no burden on the tax roles has contributed to its success. The Authority is a separate political subdivision of the State of Georgia that is privately run. The unique political combination has allowed the Authority to become renown. The simplicity of the Authority, in particular the make-up of the Board, has also been key to its success. There is only one directly elected official, the remaining are rotating positions. The Board make-up is the best of both worlds; it is politically responsible and responsive but has enough distance from the election process to be visionary. |
