The Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) has awarded a $1,200,000 conservation loan to Cornelia to upgrade the city’s water meters. The low-interest loan is financed through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF). It will be used to replace the city’s old water meters with an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system.
“This project will allow the city to better serve its customers by reading meters more efficiently, more accurate billing, and quickly detecting and fixing leaks,” according to a press release from GEFA.
The loan approval is welcome news to city officials. Cornelia City Manager Dee Anderson says they applied twice for it before getting it. He says most of the city’s water meters are very old and have outlived their life expectancy and that’s costing the city money.
“Water meters slow down over time which means they no longer register all of the water going through the meter which is a benefit to the customer but a detriment to the city because it allows the customer to use more water than what the meter reading indicates,” says Anderson.
Cornelia will pay a 0.50 percent interest on the 10-year loan. The loan includes principal forgiveness up to $480,000 if all funds are drawn, bringing the actual loan amount down to $720,000.
“Because of the principal forgiveness it reduces the cost of the project by more than one-third,” explains Anderson. “Also, since our water revenue will increase, the city will have more funds available to continue with our Water & Sewer Capital Improvement Program. We still have a lot of very old infrastructure in the ground that has to be replaced.”
Anderson says the city hopes to award the contract for meter replacement at the February Cornelia Commission meeting. Once work begins, the project should be completed within 90 days.
