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New Water Plant

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1. What exactly is the City proposing to build?

The City is proposing to replace the nearly 80-year old water treatment plant with a more modern facility. In addition to the plant, the City would add a new raw water intake, pumps, distribution pipeline, a raw water storage tank, a water plant operations building, and a potable water line from the plant to the distribution system on Norcross Road.

2. What are the benefits to building a new plant?

•Maintaining local control over a key portion of the City’s water resources
•Securing the City’s future water supply by ensuring treatment capacity as the community grows.
•Providing a modern, reliable facility that mirrors the quality Roswell citizens expect in their City services.
•Reducing the risk of future rate increases for customers by slowing operational expenditures.
•Eliminating the need to pay Fulton County approximately $500,000 annually to purchase water.
•Reducing repair and maintenance costs for the 80-year-old facility.
•Serving as a regional leader in responding to the governor’s call to develop additional water resources to support the metro Atlanta region’s water supply plan.

3. What is the City doing to study the concept of the proposed plant and its affects to the surrounding community?

In November 2012, the City approved expenditures of up to $550,000 to complete engineering conceptual design, geotechnical and environmental investigations, historical and cultural screenings, and financial analyses.

4. Who are the Roswell Water customers and are they the only residents or businesses affected by this proposed improvement?

Roswell Water Customers are residents and businesses located near the historic area as shown on the Service Area Map (link below). The new Roswell Water Treatment Plant would continue to service only its existing customers and current service area. Roswell Water Utility Service Area Map

5. How many customers are serviced by the Roswell Water Utility?

There are approximately 5,500 service/meter connections or 14,500 customers.
The Roswell Water Fund is an enterprise fund which means only those customers who receive water service from the City of Roswell pay for its operations and maintenance. Roswell residents who do not receive water from the City of Roswell do not pay anything towards the Roswell Water plant and will not be paying for the proposed new water plant. Only Roswell water customers will be paying for the new plant.

6. How much will the proposed new plant cost?

The new plant is estimated to cost $16.2 million. The City is proposing to obtain a 20-year GEFA loan to pay for the new facility. It is worth noting that the cost of the new facility will be significantly offset in savings realized by reducing the amount of water purchased from Fulton County, a lower cost of water production, and lower repair and maintenance costs. These savings – estimated to be as much as $12.7 million over the 20-year loan term - are estimated at 75-80% of the loan amount, and will continue after the loan is paid off. Because of these savings, accountants have projected water rates for Roswell water customers would need to increase only $1 per month to assist in covering the remaining costs of the new water plant.

7. How will Roswell pay for a new Water Service plant?

There are several options available to pay for the new Water Plant. Since the City of Roswell was named a “WaterFirst” Community in 2009 by the State of Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the City is eligible for an extremely low interest rate on loans made from GEFA’s Drinking Water Fund. The City is proposing to obtain a 20-year GEFA loan to pay for the new facility. The City’s outstanding financial situation and its AAA bond rating will also ensure that the loan can be secured at a very low interest rate.

8. What is the current billing model or rates for Roswell homes and businesses who receive their water from Roswell?

Under the Conservation rate structure required by the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District (NGMWPD) Roswell’s billing model for a typical residential customer includes two components:
•A base meter charge of $7 every 2-month billing cycle.
•A metered consumption charge of $3.70 per 1,000 gallons of water registered at the meter for consumption of 10,000 gallons or less and a tiered consumption rate. View the current conservation tier rate structure

The Roswell Water Fund is an enterprise fund which means only those customers who receive water service from the City of Roswell pay for its operations and maintenance. The Roswell residents who do not receive water from the City of Roswell do not subsidize those who are City water customers.
View the current conservation tier rate structure

9. How will the reduced operating costs that will result from the new water plant be used?

Savings that result from reduced operating costs will help pay back a proposed GEFA loan for the new water treatment plant. Once the loan is paid off, those savings would accrue to the water fund to fund other water operating costs, or the savings could be passed along to Roswell water customers. To our knowledge, Roswell water operations have never been subsidized by non-Roswell water customer residents.

10. What is the benefit to Roswell to stay in the “water business”?

Maintaining local control over a key portion of the City’s water resources aligns with the Roswell community’s vision for placing control of its destiny in local hands. Roswell is also securing the City’s future water supply by ensuring treatment capacity as the community grows. Roswell’s water system reduces the risk of future rate increases for customers by slowing operational expenditures, it eliminates the need to pay Fulton County approximately $500,000 annually to purchase water, and it ensures that Roswell is serving as a regional leader in responding to the governor’s call to develop additional water resources to support the metro Atlanta region’s water supply plan.