Funston Councilman Jerry Smith joined in the concerns of water issues, noting that his town’s well is old.

“Funston has done a great job with what it has to work with,” he said.

He added to the list of challenges the need for street, gutter and sidewalk improvements.

Lamar Weaver, Norman Park mayor pro-tem, said his town is in need of extra water. He noted that Norman Park sits right on top of a fault that runs from North Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico. To drill a well on that fault, it has to go down 1,100 feet as opposed to 500 feet just outside of town. Such a well costs about $500,000. But that’s cheap compared to the $2 million to $4 million it would cost to replace the towns antiquated sewer system.

“I’ve come to understand that stainless steel is a ‘precious metal,’” he said jokingly.

Weaver said if someone wanted to build an apartment complext in Norman Park, the request would have to be denied.

“We are maxed out on sewer,” he said.

Voncil Kearce, mayor of Ellenton, said that town’s water tank is in immediate need of $40,000 in repairs. Ellenton is described as a town where most of the people are on fixed incomes and there are only 150 water accounts.

On a different scale, County Extension agent Scott Brown said water is becoming an issue in the farming industry as well.

He said there are 47,000 acres that have irrigation permits.

“Irrigation is necessary. And without some legislation, we forsee some problems ahead,” said Brown.

He noted that agriculture accounts for 28 percent of the county’s business. That portion came to about $422 million in 2008.