DeKalb County simply cannot get its act together with regards to wet work. The CEO refuses to follow consolidation recommendations intended to improve the outrageous billing fiasco preferring instead to work on intra-bureacracy communications. Perchance the alternative would work but might cost jobs.
Then we have the effluent side of the equation. DeKalb has not exactly been good stewards of the stinky pipes routinely overflowing raw sewerage throughout the county. New developments always require storm water retention and increasingly other waste retention facilities are required, at the developers' cost. About as attractive to new development as the overflows are to current inhabitants.
But this is where it gets interesting because the potable and the unpalatable do in fact intersect. Oddly enough on your water bill. We all know this. Well all but a very few--those folks who are on a septic system. Yep, that's right, there are operational, well maintained septic systems in DeKalb County. There are even some in DaVille. And there are some folk on the County Commission who would like the county to encourage folks, by lowering tap-on fees, to abandon their own system and tie into county sewer. Perhaps they think this is "fair" but it isn't to the homeowner, who thru their purchase price, paid the original developer the thousands required to hook up when the subdivision was built. Maybe they think the only problem with the county system is there isn't enough stuff running thru the pipes. Doesn't sound logical, but we are talking politicians here and logic beyond a bumpersticker or a hashtag won't fit in their little heads either.
Now you may know someone who actually has a home on septic. You may have heard them talk about their water bill: "Bill came yesterday...four-fifty this month...a bit higher than usual" and it may lead you to wonder what they mean by four-fifty. That would be $4.50 and not $450 which is closer to YOUR water bill. That's right, if you're on septic you're not paying the bill for a failed sewage system that overflows raw fecal matter into creeks, rivers and homes and if you do not insist on dumping drinking water on the ground to green up your grass, you will get by on less than a tenner per month.
Yes there is a downside. Only an idiot would plant shrubs and trees on the septic drain field. Thankfully, even with re-branding, Dunwoody is still a city that smarts. And if the field is in your back yard (you know who you are) there goes your dreams of a back yard pool. Well, maybe an above ground pool. And some will tell you that septic systems do not support garbage disposals. Jury is out on that one, but really, do you have to grind and flush potato peels and eggshells? And coffee grounds? Seriously? Get a Keurig, dude, and waste the whole thing. But there is a maintenance cost. You need to pump the tank every so often, maybe 5-7 years and it will cost a few hundred dollars. That might drive your overall bill up towards a Jackson. And if you don't pump it out you will be looking at a new drain field, but with newer technology (you know your system is over 30 years old) it will be more efficacious and smaller. Technology marches on. Even down there. And government, with its bureaucrats and politicians, remains the same. Even up here.
Then we have the effluent side of the equation. DeKalb has not exactly been good stewards of the stinky pipes routinely overflowing raw sewerage throughout the county. New developments always require storm water retention and increasingly other waste retention facilities are required, at the developers' cost. About as attractive to new development as the overflows are to current inhabitants.
But this is where it gets interesting because the potable and the unpalatable do in fact intersect. Oddly enough on your water bill. We all know this. Well all but a very few--those folks who are on a septic system. Yep, that's right, there are operational, well maintained septic systems in DeKalb County. There are even some in DaVille. And there are some folk on the County Commission who would like the county to encourage folks, by lowering tap-on fees, to abandon their own system and tie into county sewer. Perhaps they think this is "fair" but it isn't to the homeowner, who thru their purchase price, paid the original developer the thousands required to hook up when the subdivision was built. Maybe they think the only problem with the county system is there isn't enough stuff running thru the pipes. Doesn't sound logical, but we are talking politicians here and logic beyond a bumpersticker or a hashtag won't fit in their little heads either.
Now you may know someone who actually has a home on septic. You may have heard them talk about their water bill: "Bill came yesterday...four-fifty this month...a bit higher than usual" and it may lead you to wonder what they mean by four-fifty. That would be $4.50 and not $450 which is closer to YOUR water bill. That's right, if you're on septic you're not paying the bill for a failed sewage system that overflows raw fecal matter into creeks, rivers and homes and if you do not insist on dumping drinking water on the ground to green up your grass, you will get by on less than a tenner per month.
Yes there is a downside. Only an idiot would plant shrubs and trees on the septic drain field. Thankfully, even with re-branding, Dunwoody is still a city that smarts. And if the field is in your back yard (you know who you are) there goes your dreams of a back yard pool. Well, maybe an above ground pool. And some will tell you that septic systems do not support garbage disposals. Jury is out on that one, but really, do you have to grind and flush potato peels and eggshells? And coffee grounds? Seriously? Get a Keurig, dude, and waste the whole thing. But there is a maintenance cost. You need to pump the tank every so often, maybe 5-7 years and it will cost a few hundred dollars. That might drive your overall bill up towards a Jackson. And if you don't pump it out you will be looking at a new drain field, but with newer technology (you know your system is over 30 years old) it will be more efficacious and smaller. Technology marches on. Even down there. And government, with its bureaucrats and politicians, remains the same. Even up here.
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