Future automatic, or conveyor-type, car washes in Flowery Branch likely will need to feature a recycled water system.

Flowery Branch City Council, following a mandate of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, is set to consider an ordinance Thursday with that conservation-minded requirement.

The city, responding to a recent audit by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, must pass the ordinance by Dec. 31, city officials said.

"It's just housekeeping," City Planner James Riker, noting that the city doesn't have any current conveyor car washes.

The council, meeting at 6 p.m. at City Hall, is scheduled to give its first OK Thursday and its final approval at its next meeting, set for Dec. 15.

Governments within a 15-county area, including Hall and Forsyth, make up the water district, which was created by the General Assembly in 2001 to establish policy, create plans and "promote intergovernmental coordination of all water issues," according to its website.

The district's Water Supply and Water Conservation Management Plan, passed in May 2009, requires, among other things, that new car washes recycle water.

Gainesville City Council voted Aug. 17, 2010, to approve an ordinance with the recycled water requirement.

"Only conveyer car washes are covered under the (district's) rule due to the fact that the self-serve type (of car wash) gets all types of use and some of the water could not be recycled," said Horace Gee Jr., Gainesville's environmental services administrator.

"Conveyer car washes are normally manned and the operator has some control (over) the kind of use," he said.

In step with another district requirement, Flowery Branch also is scheduled to consider an ordinance that requires a water meter for all homes, including individual apartments and other such units in a multifamily building.

Existing requirements for master meters, or a meter that gives the water reading for more than one housing unit, "need to be revised slightly to comply with that," Riker said.

The new ordinance "doesn't say you can't still have a master meter, just that (housing units) are to be individually metered," he added.

"Clearly, the intent behind that is so you can isolate ... what amount (of water) is being used by individual units," Riker said.

In other business, City Council will consider voting to transfer the Cinnamon Cove sewer plant's discharge pipe to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The city plans to decommission the plant as part of a $1.8 million project connecting it to the city's main plant through a series of pipes and pump stations. The Cinnamon Cove plant is on Gaines Ferry Road, outside the city limits, and the main plant is off Atlanta Highway in the city.

Construction could start in the spring, with the work taking about nine months, Riker said.