Conservation in our Community

Learn about conservation efforts right here in our community…

Covington Ford

Covington Ford is one of Georgia’s oldest family-owned Ford dealerships, and in 2011 they moved into a new LEED-gold certified building. The building uses water-smart fixtures and pollution-reducing storm water management.

Oxford College Dormitory

The newest dormitory at Oxford College, the East Village Residential Complex is LEED-gold certified. It has an underground storage tank for irrigation, drip irrigation with rain sensors.

General Mills

The General Mills plant in Covington installed a wastewater treatment
system that reuses half the plant’s process wastewater for other purposes, saving 5.3 million gallons of water per month.

Newton County Landfill

The “Site 1 MSW” area of Newton County’s landfill closed in 1991. Though no environmental improvements are required, the site is within a quarter mile of the Yellow River, so Newton County is bringing the site up to current standards. This includes removing the waste and treating the remaining soil.

Oxford City Hall

Oxford’s new City Hall opened in 2010. This redevelopment implemented several new stormwater mitigation features. Porous pavement in the parking areas to reduce runoff. Any remaining stormwater is captured by a rain garden, which slowly filters the water through layers of stone and soil. An underground vault collects the remaining stormwater and stores it for future irrigation.

Porter Memorial Library

The Porter Memorial Library, opened in 2010, is the Newton County Government’s first LEED certified building. It was designed with several water-smart features, including bio-swales for stormwater treatment and an underground collection tank for irrigation.

Turner Lake Park and Recreation Facility

The Park, finished in 1998, includes several stormwater management techniques that weren’t adopted by the State of Georgia until 2011. These include: riparian buffers, a design to fit the terrain, reduced grading, a reduced parking footprint, and (as you can see in the image), great efforts to preserve mature trees. Runoff is directed to pervious areas, such as gravel parking lots.

Dried Indian Creek

A new biorententive parking lot was constructed behind the Covington City Hall. This parking lot will prevent storm water from entering Dried Indian Creek. Water quality measurement is continuously measured, and city cars are washed on a special new pad.