Gainesville joined an “exclusive club” Tuesday, electing to join with the state Department of Community Affairs to become a WaterFirst community.

The designation recognizes the city Public Utilities Department’s attention to water conservation, wastewater treatment and planning, Department of Community Affairs Assistant Commissioner Mike Gleaton said state.

Gainesville is one of 13 governments in the state to receive the designation, a partnership with the state Gleaton dubbed an “exclusive club.”

“In a word, what it takes to get there is excellence — excellence in water resource management,” Gleaton said. “That’s a broad term, that goes all the way from water quality, water supply and public education, a number of things.”

The designation is more than another title for the city. It opens the Public Utilities Department up to potential grants from the Environmental Protection Division and makes it eligible for interest discounts on future loans from the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority.

Gleaton said Gainesville was chosen as a WaterFirst community after eight specific policies and practices of the Public Utilities Department’s were evaluated by the department of community affairs.

The state department evaluates utility departments based on their plans for water supply and storm water management, their efforts at water conservation and wastewater treatment.

“You’ve scored very high, and in addition, you’ve demonstrated a lot of what we would term ‘best practices’ that we would like to see other communities institute around the state,” Gleaton said.

Gleaton said Gainesville considers watershed protection in all decisions, including zoning, and looks past jurisdictional boundaries when creating plans for watershed protection.

He noted that Gainesville’s water and wastewater treatment practices exceed what is required by the state Environmental Protection Division.

“You’re looking at it in a holistic or comprehensive environment,” Gleaton said. “You’re not just myopic on ‘we’ve got a great treatment plant’ or ‘we’ve got this’, you’re looking at all seven criteria and trying to exceed in all seven of those areas.”