System Summary
The Henry County Water & Sewerage Authority (HCWSA) was founded in 1961 by an Act of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, to "acquire, construct, and thereafter operate and maintain projects embracing sources of water supply and the distribution and sale of water and related facilities." The Act goes on to list the other duties of the Authority, including that to establish a sewer system
The Water System
The HCWSA has developed five reservoirs, covering a combined total of 3,138 acres of water surface area, and holding approximately 18 billion gallons of water. The reservoirs are at the south end of the County, and water is pumped significant distances across Henry County’s 331 square miles.
The Authority operates two water treatment plants, with a total permitted capacity to produce 37 million gallons per day (MGD). Over 1,400 miles of water mains have been constructed, making service available to most of the county by serving over 54,000 customer water connections. Additionally, 29.5 million gallons of potable water can be stored in 9 elevated tanks, four ground water storage tanks, plus the clear wells at the two water plants.
The Sewer System
The HCWSA sewer system, while serving some of the higher density areas in the county, is not as extensive as the HCWSA water system. The HCWSA currently serves 18,500 customer sewer connections with approximately 428 miles of sewer mains, 31 sewerage lift stations, and four waste water treatment plants permitted to treat 8.75 MGD. An expansion of our largest wastewater plant – the Walnut Creek Water Reclamation Facility – will enhance the total waste water treatment capacity of the Authority, which will be 12.75 MGD upon completion.
Advanced Methods in Customer Service
All water meters are read on a monthly basis utilizing a radio read system. That is, an electronic device on each meter sends a signal identifying the meter and the current reading to a devise in our meter reading truck as it drives past a customer connection. Those readings then are uploaded electronically into our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, and bills are generated based on the increase of the current reading over the previous reading, which amounts to customer’s consumption. Thus, readings can be gathered more quickly, and actual readings – not estimates – are used for the bills, so the possibility of manual error is greatly reduced, if not eliminated. All water customers have water meters and are billed based on their consumption. Sewerage fees, for customers who also have sewerage service, are based on water consumption.
The HCWSA Service Area
The service area for the HCWSA is primarily unincorporated Henry County. A few customers in neighboring counties are also served, where subdivisions or drainage basins cross county lines. There are four municipalities within Henry County: Stockbridge, McDonough, Hampton, and Locust Grove. Each municipality operates its own water and sewerage system. These municipalities purchase various quantities of finished water from HCWSA each year.
