City distributes bottled water

Published 11:03 pm Tuesday, December 27, 2022

City Manager Hank Griffeth said he realized at around noon Monday, the day after Christmas, that the City of Milledgeville would need to find a way to provide free bottled water to its customers in the wake of these latest troubles with the city’s water system. 

Many city water customers have been without water or simply getting by on a trickle of water due to low pressure since a winter storm roared into Georgia on Friday and lingered through the Christmas weekend.

Griffeth reached out to Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Wayne Johnson, who provided contact information for a contractor that works with Georgia EMA during and after emergencies across the state. 

“They got us 19 pallets of water here [Monday] night at about 10:15,” Griffeth said Tuesday morning. “Councilman [Walter] Reynolds and I got it offloaded.”

The delivery site was the Parham Kitchen building located on the former Central State Hospital campus. The loading dock on the back side of the facility was turned into a makeshift water distribution center Tuesday morning as residential City of Milledgeville water customers were allowed to pick up one 24-pack of 16.9-ounce water bottles per household.

“The folks who have taken over the Parham Kitchen at Central State Hospital were more than willing to let us offload it here and use this as a distribution center,” Griffeth said, referencing the company known as Peach State Kitchen who has plans to formally move into the Parham Kitchen building once a deal with the Central State Hospital Local Redevelopment Authority is finalized. 

Griffeth, Reynolds, Mayor Mary Parham-Copelan, new District 5 City Councilwoman Shonya Mapp, EMA Director Johnson, firefighters with Milledgeville Fire Rescue and Baldwin County Public Works employees were among those passing out cases of bottled water once the distribution center opened at 9 a.m. A steady stream of residents came beginning shortly after. Trucks were also loaded with cases to be delivered to local senior living facilities that were in the affected area. 

The Coca-Cola Bottling Company delivered nine more pallets to be given out at the annex next to Milledgeville City Hall and Northridge Christian Church on Log Cabin Road. Those two sites were open from about noon to 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Baldwin County government building on North Columbia Street also served as a distribution site. 

Mayor Pro Tem Steve Chambers, along with alder members Dr. Collinda Lee and Shonya Mapp was scheduled to assist in the water distribution at the city’s East Annex or Northridge Christian Church.

“Northridge has partnered with us and allowed us to use their facility as a distribution center,” Griffeth said.

Firefighters from Milledgeville Fire Rescue Services, City Public Works Department, City Utlitilies and Water Maintenance employees along with Robert Hadden and Kevin Veal have also worked a lot of hours since the water crisis began.

Griffeth thanked the mayor and members of city council for assisting in the handout of the bottled water.

He also thanked county officials and employees for their assistance in delivering some of the bottled water to city water customers in various areas.

“We have a required working relationship between each other in the city and county, because none of us can do anything alone,” Griffeth said. “We couldn’t have done what we did without the help of Baldwin County EMA/Homeland Security Director Wayne Johnson and Deryl Nelson with the county public works department, many other county employees as far as distributing the bottled water to those needing it Tuesday morning. They have all been invaluable.”

For now, the City of Milledgeville is footing the bill for the cases of water.

“There may be some money from Atlanta down the road since we’re still in a state of emergency, but the City’s not counting on that,” said Griffeth.

Moving forward, the city manager asked residents to keep an eye on the City of Milledgeville Facebook page and website (www.milledgevillega.us) for updates on times and locations for further water distribution efforts. He did not rule out ordering more water if the need arises. 

“This Lipsey Mountain Spring Water company that we dealt with was so responsive that I think if we need to get more in here we could do that pretty quickly,” Griffeth said.