BARTOW COUNTY, Ga. — The Bartow County Water Department plans to take over providing services to a neighborhood due to the current servicer attempting to shut off the residents’ water access.
County officials told the private water servicer for a Skyview Drive community found the cost of upgrading the local water infrastructure to meet county regulations too expensive, instead trying to shut off access despite residents’ payments.
The residents of the homes on Skyview Drive currently have a master meter, similar to a multi-family or mobile home development, but over the years, the system has degraded. It is owned and operated by a private provider.
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Water officials told Channel 2 Action News that when residents began to report issues with leaks and increasingly higher water bills in late 2023, the meter owner met with the county about system monitoring and redevelopment options.
In February 2024, county officials said the water servicer met with development officials and engineering staff about plans to upgrade the water system in the community in order to comply with new development regulations.
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Water department officials said the upgrades that were needed to meet county standards were specifically related to fire flow requirements. The upgrades are needed because the current infrastructure does not have the ability to accommodate them.
After that discussion, the water servicer put upgrade plans on hold, the county said.
“Subsequent to his development inquiry, the customer continued making requests of BCWD for assistance with the leaks and ultimately to take over the existing water system during the Spring/Early summer of 2024,” according to county officials. “Given its age and below-standard operating condition, we informed him of the need to bring the system into compliance with our standards before assuming County ownership. BCWD gave the customer initial cost estimates to complete the system upgrades in compliance with current standards.”
Once the water servicer found out what it would cost to make the changes to the infrastructure in place, they chose not to pursue upgrades. In August 2024, residents were informed by the meter and property owner that they would have until Jan. 1 to get connected to the county water system, as he would be shutting off water access.
The county told the water servicer that he does not own the water meter and could not disconnect his customers from water access “due to his inability to adequately maintain the system to reduce the high water bills.”
After residents began to get the emails about water shutoffs from their service provider, the county began getting multiple calls and emails, and the water department briefed Bartow County administrators about the issue.
BCWD staff recommended the county move forward with making water system upgrades to those in the community so they could be served as county water customers instead and prevent their water service from being disrupted “due to no fault of their own.”
The project to upgrade the water system for the Skyview Drive community is now officially open for public bid, and Bartow County says the residents are still being served by the private water service provider until construction of the new system is complete.
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