CBRI to City of Dallas: Clean Up Your Act or We'll Sue

The Coosa River Basin Initiative is telling the Northwest Georgia town of Dallas to clean up it's sewage problem, or it will sue.

The city operates facilities that have accounted for some 4 million gallons of sewage spills in Pumpkin Creek. That creek feeds into the Etowah River.

The city has been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars by state officials for the spills, but according to the CRBI, has not made the changes needed to stop polluting.

City officials have sixty days to respond before the suit can be filed.

Rome Has Plenty of Water

The Environmental protection division released a list of the cities that decreased water use by 10 percent. Rome, as predicted by local city officials, didn’t make the cut.

Rome’s Water Department director, Lee Ross, said Rome doesn’t have a water problem and shouldn’t have to cut back.

"I think Rome’s major issue is that we feel like we shouldn't be in the level four district, we feel like we're in no different situation than the City of Macon," said Ross.

Ross said Rome returns, more than half of the water taken out of the Etowah River, the most of any city in North Georgia.

Dawson County May Get Reservior

In response to the State’s new Reservoir Development and Drought Relief Act, Dawson County may soon get one of its own. The Reservoir Development and Drought Relief Act makes it easier for local governments to build reservoirs.

One new reservoir is expected to add 11 million gallons of water a day solely to Dawson County. It will be built on Russell creek, one of three untapped watersheds in the area.

Etowah Water and Sewer Authority Manager, Brooke Anderson, said he chose Russell Creek so they would not have to start from scratch.

“We will actually have to remove the existing damn in order to construct a much larger damn turning it into a drinking water supply reservoir,” said Anderson.

The project is expected to cost 36 million dollars. Construction will begin in December pending a loan from the Army Corps of Engineers.