By Janis Reid Staff Writer Rogelio Hernandez, working for Reynolds, Inc, based out of Orleans, Ind., greases and services the machinery at the construction site of Bear Creek Reservoir on the corner of Tallasee Road and Turkey Creek Road in Clarke County. As Bear Creek Reservoir nears its July 1 completion date, member counties of the Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority are gladly meeting reservoir pipelines halfway. Since the intergovernmental authority broke ground for the 505-acre reservoir in October 1998, local water agencies have awaited the resource that could be much needed in the summer months ahead.
Workers fill a hole where a pipe has been installed.
The Oconee Basin Water Authority includes Athens-Clarke, Oconee, Jackson and Barrow and will pipe water reserves to those areas when the reservoir is completed. The authority is also constructing a 36-inch pipeline that will transport water from the treatment plant to each county's designated connection point. When the reservoir is complete, water will be pumped into it from the Middle Oconee River. Once filled, the water will then be pumped into the treatment plant for filtering, and then to county pipelines. Each county will then be allowed to divide the permitted reservoir yield of 52 million gallons per day.