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September 1, 2011

Town looks at buying water from Blount County

By Benjamin Bullard The Cullman Times

GARDEN CITY — Garden City is in the process of a move to acquire its drinking water from Blount County, after signing an agreement with the county's water utility that supplants a soon-to-expire contract that had allowed the town to purchase water from the Cullman County Commission.

Mayor Harden Davis said the town decided to make the change after hearing from residents that the quality of Cullman County water it had been buying could not meet that of the water Blount County can supply.

Davis was quick, however, to point out that the town's preference for the Blount County-supplied water, which is drawn from a naturally-occurring spring, is not indicative of a concern for the safety of the water the town had been buying from Cullman, which is drawn from a reservoir at Lake Catoma. Rather, he said, it's a simple matter of quality.

"Let me emphasize — Cullman County's water is not dangerous," said Davis. "It's fairly good water. I've lived in Ft. Lauderdale, and — let me tell you — Cullman County has got good water compared to that. But the water we were getting from the county — by the time it had come all the way to us down here, it had already passed through two or three tanks, and was getting kind of old. But it was never unsafe."

Garden City's water contract with Cullman County expires in 2014. Under the new contract with the Blount County Water Authority, Garden City's water rates will run $2.50 per thousand gallons, as opposed to the $2.05 per thousand gallons the town paid under its Cullman County contract. The Blount County contract is valid for 10 years.

County commission chairman James Graves said Wednesday the County will try to end its current contract with Garden City, so that a ductile iron pipe previously laid to supply Garden City's water tank can be removed and repurposed by the county water department.

"It's our intention to get the agreement canceled, and then pull the pipe out of the ground," said Graves. "Honestly, that kind of pipe was unnecessary to supply Garden City to begin with, but that was a decision that was made under leadership that is no longer with the county. We intend to just move forward and put it to a better use."

In order to supply the town with Blount County water, Garden City is having to traverse the bridge on County Road 26, which crosses the county line at the Mulberry River, with a supply pipe. Davis said several of the town's 286 metered residents have asked for better water — and, he said, he feels the water they'll be getting from their neighbors to the south will satisfy that request.

"It will be the best water in the county, no doubt about it," said Davis. "Blount has spring water that's got no byproducts in it. They add a little chlorine to it, in case the water lines are ever contaminated. It's as pure as what you could buy in a bottle. The people here wanted it and I couldn't turn them down."



* Benjamin Bullard can be reached by e-mail at bbullard@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 270.

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