Civil Municipal Magazine Aug 2023

As Chairman of the Barrow County Board of Commissioners Pat Graham recounts, “Eleven years ago, when I came into office, we were just coming out of the recession. So, it was very important for us to be on a positive growth pattern for residential growth, commercial growth, and industrial growth. Part of that always involves a lot of planning. So, we’ve worked on updating our comprehensive plan, and we’ve worked on updating our transportation plan. And we’ve been extremely successful.” Barrow County’s Infrastructure Investments Fuel Growth and Opportunity Barrow County has focused on enhancing its community infrastructure by investing in wastewater treatment facilities and water supply. The county allocated $15.5 million to upgrade the Tanners Bridge wastewater treatment facility, supporting the growth of residential, BARROW COUNT Y, GEORGIA commercial, and industrial areas along the Highway 316 innovation corridor. Additionally, the county is working on expanding the Barber Creek wastewater treatment plant, increasing its processing capacity from half a million gallons per day to one and a half million gallons per day. A water supply reservoir that addresses surface water requirements both presently and into the future was the result of regional collaboration. “One of the infrastructure projects that I’m very proud of is our partnership in the upper Oconee Water Basin Authority,” says Graham. “We partnered in the late 90s with three neighboring counties to build a water supply reservoir. The capacity of that facility right now produces about 21 million gallons a day, and we’re in the process of doubling our water capacity to 42 million gallons a day of water availability.” Noting that Barrow County currently uses 2 million