Landscaping at the Mall of Georgia will be watered with “reuse water” from the nearby water treatment plant starting in 2008. Gwinnett officials are hoping to persuade more large water users to switch from drinking water to the highly treated but non-potable effluent from the F. Wayne Hill Water Resources Center.

The Board of Commissioners Tuesday awarded a $1.17 million contract to Gary’s Grading and Pipeline Co., Inc. to build a 24-inch pipeline over the two-mile distance from the Hill plant to the mall.

The County already has a number of customers for reuse water drawn from a 20-mile pipeline that runs from the Hill plant to the Chattahoochee River. Two parks, two golf courses and the new Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center already use the processed water for irrigation and cooling.

“Almost 20 million gallons of reuse water are now flowing through the line every day,” according to Frank Stephens, the County’s Director of Water Resources. “If more large water users along that line could make a similar switch, we could reduce the demand for drinking water.” An advisory panel of citizens, businesses and members of other interested groups recommended such uses after studying the County’s long-range water plans.

A recent expansion now allows the state-of-the-art Hill plant to treat up to 60 million gallons of raw sewage per day. Treatment includes screening, grit removal, sedimentation, aeration, clarification, coagulation, disinfecting ozonation, and filtering through activated carbon and ultra-filtration membranes. This treated water poses no health risks and is currently returned to either the bottom of Lake Lanier or to the Chattahoochee River.

“Especially in light of the recent drought conditions in Georgia, it just makes sense to conserve water and promote sustainability,” said Irish Horsey, Reuse Water Manager at DWR.

“This project represents a huge step towards major water conservation in the area,” said Mike Lowrey, General Manager for Mall of Georgia. “We are proud to be partnering with the Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources on efforts that will have such positive results for the community. We hope this serves as a catalyst for other forms of conservation in the community as well.”