Utility Benefits

Improved Water Quality

Every person in Athens depends on safe drinking water. Our drinking water supply is a bedrock of safe and healthy families and a key to future growth and development. Poor water quality affects individual health and public health, as well as other aspects of our life. Improperly managed stormwater can increase the cost of purifying the water from our local waterways that is used to provide safe drinking water.

Storm Drains Lead Directly into Local Waterways

The stormwater management program has a positive impact on water quality in the Athens area. Polluted stormwater runoff that flows form parking lots, streets, driveways, yards, and rooftops ends up in our streams and rivers untreated. These same streams and rivers supply our community with the raw water that is processed to become drinking water.

ACC stormwater is working to educate the public and to identify illegal connections to the stormwater system. These efforts protect the health of our rivers and streams and reduce the amount of pollution that is discharged into our local waters. Keeping our rivers and streams free of harmful contaminants lessens the burden that is placed on the county drinking water and treatment plant.

Safe Management of Our Water Resources

We take the cleanliness and security of our drinking water for granted, but a neglected stormwater system increases the burden on the county to safely manage our water resources.