Dear Editor,
Piedmont Water is in the news again for thousands of gallons of sewage overflowing into Lake Oconee. It is shocking to realize that Piedmont’s raw sewage is contaminating the special place where we swim, ski, fish and get our drinking water. How can this happen and what must be done to assure that it never happens again? The stakes are high, but the answers are elusive at best. Where do we go for help?
Don’t expect much help from Piedmont Water. Private-owned monopolies don’t operate that way.
Piedmont operates day to day by its own rules when it comes to billing customers, delivering safe drinking water, and sewer service, and operating its utility system.
This absence of public accountability is precisely why most monopolies are illegal in the United States.
Other utilities like Georgia Power operate under the close scrutiny of public service commissions, but not Piedmont Water.
Interestingly, Georgia is one of only six states where water and wastewater companies are not regulated by public service commissions.
True, Piedmont Water is regulated under Federal and State clean water and environmental laws. Past experience indicates that Piedmont is left to self-report violations like a sewage spill into Lake Oconee. Once an incident occurs, Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GEPD) allows Piedmont to come up with their plan for remediation of the spill and corrective measures and monitoring. It appears that GEDP does very little on-site inspection and independent evaluation of corrective plans. Community involvement in GEPD’s process does not exist. Little help here. By the way, should Piedmont’s sewage spill result in an enforcement fine, the monopoly of Piedmont’s fine and litigation costs can be recovered in customer bills.
How about county government? Here again, there is little hope for Piedmont customers whose drinking water and recreation depend on a healthy Lake Oconee. So far, Greene County seems to have taken the position that Piedmont Water’s business is out of its jurisdiction. We hope the Greene County government will rethink its position. Failure to do so will make monopoly Piedmont the water and sewer utility by default in Greene County’s lake country.
Here are a few actions Greene County can undertake right away to make Piedmont more accountable and protect Lake Oconee:
• Before the County approves platting, require Piedmont to publicly pre-file their service agreement with developers like Kolter.
• Review the service agreement to assure fair treatment of customers.
• Require Piedmont’s service agreement to explicitly protect customers from all costs (fines and litigation) arising out of Piedmont’s failure to operate in a safe manner.
• Require Piedmont to file detailed engineering plans and costs for extending service to each new development.
• Periodically, inspect Piedmont’s wells, distribution system, and treatment facilities to help assure compliance with the safe water and sewage treatment regulations.
• Monitor and report all GEPD inspections and incident reporting and post incidents on the County’s website.
It is not acceptable to continue on the present path.
I have 20 years of working in a regulated natural gas utility. There is a similarity between water and gas utilities. Both use underground systems to move gas, water, and sewage.
Both measure usage with electronic meters. Both utilities provide essential services – heat, water, and sanitary sewers. Both have similar system operation and maintenance issues – natural gas leaks are potentially more dangerous in the short run, but sewage spills and water contamination may have greater long-term health consequences.
Richard Osborne