GAINESVILLE – The recent heavy rains have forced officials with Hall County to take some immediate flood control steps at the county landfill.
The landfill is on Oakbrook Drive, just east of Candler Road (State Route 60), and is part of the Allen Creek drainage basin which flows into the Oconee River.
“The landfill cells have received excess pressure from the rain,” said Dena Bosten, Hall County Financial Services Director. Bosten was speaking to the Hall County Commission at its work session Monday afternoon.
“So in order to relieve the pressure from that and prevent a disruption in service water hauling services were necessary,” Bosten said. Eighty tanker truck loads of storm water were hauled to locations in Gilmer and Banks Counties.
Wilcorp, Inc. of Toccoa provided the hauling service. Their tanker trucks have a 6,300 gallon capacity; 24-loads were taken to the Ellijay Water Treatment Plant while the remaining 56-loads went to the Banks County Water Treatment Facility.
The total dollar amount for the hauling operation is $115,776, but due to the urgency of the situation water hauling had to be undertaken before funding could be officially requested from the commission.
“Administration approved the procurement of these services under the Emergency Clause of the Purchasing Ordinance,” Bosten explained. Formal ratification of the funding request will be part of the consent agenda at Thursday evening’s voting session.
Hall County Commission Chairman Richard Higgins and Commissioner Shelley Echols visited the landfill last week to observe the operation. “They have had their hands full and we appreciate what they are doing,” Higgins said. “They’re working seven days a week to get it done.”
Higgins said the need to haul away storm water lasted much longer than expected. “Every day we think we get caught up and it’s another two inches of rain in the next two days. So, that’s what we’re up against.”
Srikanth Yamala, Hall County Director of Public Works and Utilities, said the county wanted to head-off any possible run-off problems before they could occur. “This is more of a pro-active measure.”
Yamala explained that the landfill is designed to hold rain run-off in a series of detention ponds, and it was the ponds that were close to overflowing. “We have a couple of six inch pumps that pumped it from the detention pond to the truck.”
Several more days of rain are predicted for our area and whether additional water hauling will be needed remains to be seen.
