About JCWSA & Frequently Asked Questions
About Jackson County Water & Sewerage Authority
Jackson County and Municipalities Background & Governance
The JCWSA was created as a political subdivision of the State of Georgia by an act of the Georgia General Assembly in 1986 to facilitate providing water and sewer service to citizens of Jackson County. The JCWSA is governed by a 5-member board of directors, each of whom must reside in Jackson County, and each is appointed by the board of commissioners of Jackson County. Members serve staggered 3-year terms without compensation for a period not to exceed 9-years. An Authority member can not be reappointed after 3 consecutive terms without at least one year of inactive status. Currently, the board members are:
- Christopher Nichols, Chairman
- Tommy Benton, Vice-Chair
- Kevin Poe
- Dave Ehrhardt
- Wade Johnson
The JCWSA operates as an independent political subdivision of the state, similar to counties and cities in Georgia. However, the Authority is not a taxing entity and therefore operates as an enterprise, meaning it operates solely off of the revenues from water and sewer billings and fees.
In the past, the JCWSA did receive a percentage of the Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) dollars from Jackson County. SPLOST dollars were used exclusively for large water projects including transmission lines, large mains, water towers and pumping stations. At the close of the 2011 calendar year, the Authority no longer received any portion of SPLOST.
Your Water. Where Does It Come From?
The majority of water supplied by the JCWSA is purchased from the Bear Creek Reservoir and Water Treatment Plant. The 505-acre reservoir is located in extreme southwest Jackson County. This water is pumped into the adjacent water plant where the water is conditioned and filtered, after which it is chlorinated and pumped into JCWSA’s system ready for use.
The Bear Creek Reservoir and Treatment Plant is owned and operated by the Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority (UOBWA), an independent political subdivision of the State of Georgia. There are (4) counties that own a share of the reservoir and (3) counties that own a share of the treatment plant:
| Reservoir | Treatment Plant |
| Athens-Clarke | Jackson |
| Jackson | Barrow |
| Barrow | Oconee |
| Oconee |
Jackson County’s share of the reservoir is 25%; its share of the treatment plant is 43.9%.
Questions on bylaws or specific policies and procedures of the UOBWA should be directed to the Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center in Athens at (706) 369-5650 or www.bearcreekwtp.com.
The JCWSA has the ability to, and does from time-to-time, purchase treated water from the City of Commerce at northeast Jackson County. This is done mainly in response to high demands on the system such as water main breaks or other unforeseen circumstances.
Once the treated water is in our system, it is distributed throughout most of unincorporated Jackson County. In specific areas it must be re-pumped at one of our several booster stations so that the water pressure can be maintained at the higher elevations within the county. Generally the JCWSA does not supply water to many cities in the county since these cities have their own water systems, they being Jefferson, Commerce, Braselton, Maysville and Nicholson. The JCWSA has the ability to provide these communities with water when the need arises
Frequently Asked Questions
Fire Hydrant ID's Assigned Numbering Ranges
In a coordinated effort to positivley identify fire hayrants, while collecting GPS data, the following range of numbers has been allocated for each area.
For the GIS database to work, all ID numbers must be unique. By assigning a range of numbers to specific areas, the ID’s will be unique to each. This allows individual groups to tag and record their data independently and, later, when data from all areas is combined into a single, “County Fire Hydrant Layer”, all ID’s will remain unique; we will have no duplicate ID’s in the layer.
An ID Number, selected from the assigned range of numbers for a particular area, will be physically placed on each fire hydrant and it’s XY coordinate recorded using a GPS data collector. At the same time, this ID Number will be recorded, and later displayed on maps along with each fire hydrant. When a fireman, maintainence worker, or other party takes a fire hydrant map to the field and locates a particular hydrant, the individual can be certain that the map and the field location are correctly matched by comparing the ID physically located on the hydrant and the ID labeled on the map.
| AREA | FROM | TO | COUNT |
| City of Commerce | 0 | 3999 | 3999 |
| JCWSA* | 4000 | 13999 | 9999 |
| City of Jefferson | 14000 | 17999 | 3999 |
| City of Maysville | 18000 | 21999 | 3999 |
| City of Nicholson | 22000 | 25999 | 3999 |
| City of Hoschton | 26000 | 29999 | 3999 |
| City of Braselton | 30000 | 33999 | 3999 |
Cross-Connection Control (Backflow) Information and Requirements
Under certain circumstances, as determined by JCWSA, the installation of a cross-connection control (backflow preventer) device is required. This device is installed on the customer’s side of the service line. This device protects the water supply provided by JCWSA from the possibility of contamination or pollution by isolating, within its customers internal distribution system, such contaminants or pollutants which could backflow or back-siphon into the public water system. This policy was derived from and is enforced in accordance with the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act of 1986, and the statutes of the State of Georgia, Rules for Safe Drinking Water, 391-3-5.
Testing of the backflow prevention device is also required to verify that it is operating correctly. This testing is to be performed only by certified testing providers. Many plumbing contractors perform installation, testing and maintenance of backflow devices. JCWSA customers may use any person who is certified by Georgia Statewide Backflow Prevention Assembly Certification Program, as approved by the state.
You can identify and locate available testing providers by visiting www.gawp.org. In the upper left-hand corner of this linked page, click on “Directories” then click on “Backflow Certified Tester Search.”
Additional forms and information regarding JCWSA’a Cross-Connection Control Program can be found below.
Past Projects and Important Milestones
| Year | Event |
| 1986 |
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| 1993 |
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| 1994 |
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| 2000 |
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| 2003 |
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| 2005 |
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| 2006 |
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| 2007 |
Service system overview:
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| 2008 |
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| 2010 |
Service system overview:
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| 2013 |
Service system overview:
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| 2016 |
Service system overview:
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| 2017 |
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