This was the topic of debate last night between advocates and opponents at a public hearing on the application by the Cherokee County Water and Sewage Authority (CCWSA) for a permit to build a wastewater treatment plant on Cokers Chapel Road in northeast Cherokee County. The first phase of the plant, which will have an ultimate capacity for treating as much as 8 million gallons of sewage per day, would be for 2 million gallons per day, and would take an estimated 18 months to complete once construction begins.

The proposal is opposed by residents concerned about the impact of another waste water treatment on the county’s water quality. They claim that the Etowah and Lake Allatoona, the primary sources of Cherokee county’s drinking water, have already been impaired by the emissions from Cherokee County’s three other waste water treatments facilities. They are requesting the state Environmental Protection Division (EPD), which conducted the hearing in the auditorium at Canton city hall, to postpone a decision on the permit until a study currently being conducted by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to determine the maximum daily load of contaminants that Cherokee’s water supply can handle.

The debate turned nasty when Nate Cochrane, president of the Cherokee Citizens for Property Rights (CCPR) attacked the motives of the opponents, accusing them of trying to prevent more growth in Cherokee County. The CCPR consists largely of landowners in northeast Cherokee County who stand to profit from development of this still largely rural section of the county. Cochrane argued that building the plant is better for the environment because it is easier to monitor one sewer system than thousands of septic tanks.

The CCPR and CCWSA oppose a delay for the simple reason that building now would be cheaper than waiting. 

The most constructive idea I heard at that meeting was a suggestion by Joe Cook, executive director of the Coosa River Basin Initiative, based in Rome, that the additional load that would be generated by the new plant be offset by tightening the permitted output from the three existing plants in Cherokee County, thereby avoiding an increase in water quality problems that is being created by the existing amount of water pollution. The Coosa River runs through Bartow County and feeds into Lake Allatoona.

Written comments on the draft permit received before April 1, 2008 will be reviewed by the EPD. Comments may be sent via U. S. mail to

Dr. Carol Couch, Director
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Environmental Protection Division
2 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
Suite 1152, East Tower
Atlanta, GA 30334

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