Richland Creek Reservoir raw water pipeline completed; park design process underway

More news offered from Paulding County’s most notable ongoing infrastructure project. One part of Paulding’s reservoir project was recently completed ahead of schedule, according to Brown and Caldwell’s Kelly Comstock, a managing consultant for the project. Comstock updated Paulding commissioners during their final May session on construction activity at the site and Paulding Parks and Recreation Director Michael Justus addressed commissioners during their morning session last week prior to their approval of the funding to design the roadway, trails and pads for future buildings within the Reservoir Park.
The Raw Water Pipeline, about three miles of 48-inch steel piping, had been completed ahead of schedule by Garney Construction. Pressure testing is also completed, making it the first significant milestone of the construction to complete at the site, Comstock said. The completion represents the first portion of construction to be completed ahead of the required schedule and within budget. The pipeline will remain in place until the work at river intake and reservoir are completed and piping on those projects is installed to connect to that pipeline, according to information provided on the RCR website.
Once operational, the River Intake will pump water from the Etowah River through the raw water pipeline about 3.5 miles to fill the new RCR.
And additionally last week the BoC approved a contract with Croy Engineering to design the roadway, trails and pads for future buildings within the Reservoir Park in the amount of $267,000. The RCR is being located on approximately 700-acres of county-owned land in northern Paulding County, in Post 4 Commissioner Tony Crowe’s district. The RCR will be on Richland Creek, but will be filled with water from the Etowah River.
“As critical as infrastructure can be in Paulding County, the Richland Creek Reservoir truly is our independent water supply,” said Post IV Commissioner Tony Crowe.
The project’s lineage involves a pump station at the Etowah River, three miles long, and then another pump station in the reservoir that pumps water out into the treatment plant, and then another pump station that sends the water through 12 miles of pipe to Dallas. Construction of the finished Water Pipeline and Booster Pump Station is expected to complete by March of 2019, with project completion expected around 2021.
In July of last year Paulding commissioners approved the construction of the Richland Creek Dam and Reservoir to lowest bidder Brad Cole Construction in the amount of $42,708,932.67. Overall the program is on track with its projected $215 million total budget. Funding is coming from a mixture of county-issued bonds, loans from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority, and state grants. The reservoir is designed to yield about 35 million gallons per day and will provide about 3.43 billion gallons of water storage to support Paulding County.
Brown and Caldwell, the largest engineering consulting firm solely focused on the U.S. environmental sector, is serving as the county’s Program Manager and responsible for ensuring coordination of program tasks and contractors, maintaining schedule, managing project budgets, cost accountability, and communication of program progress with the public and other stakeholders.

1. Parks and Recreation Director Michael Justus addressed Paulding commissioners last week during their morning session and prior to their approval of the funding to design the roadway, trails and pads for future buildings within the Reservoir Park. (Photo: R. Grant)
2. Garney Construction installs Raw Water Pipeline, which has since become the first completed part of the project at the site. (Photo: submitted, Paulding County Water System)