On Friday December 11, 2020, Gwinnett County officials held a ceremony to formally recognize the renaming of Lanier Raw Water Intake to the Wayne Mason Water Supply Intake Facility honoring former Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners Chairman Wayne Mason for his vision in establishing a robust water and sewer system to accommodate growth in the county.
Mason served as a district commissioner from 1973 through 1976 and as chairman of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners from 1977 through 1980. He also served as chairman of the Gwinnett County Water and Sewerage Authority. During his years of service, he helped secure critical funding for major water and sewer projects that formed the foundation for today’s award winning Gwinnett County water and sewer system.
During the ceremony, Commission Chairwoman Charlotte Nash highlighted Mason’s work to get approval for the county to draw water from Lake Lanier to all residents in Gwinnett county.
Mason said he felt humbled to have the water supply intake facility bear his name, which provides water to hundreds of thousands of residents and to tens of thousands of businesses.
“Gwinnett has given a lot to me and I just tried to give something back to Gwinnett,” said Mason. “We had to make a lot of tough decisions back then. I was fortunate to serve with people who would do what was best for the county without regard to how it would affect their re-election. It took unity of purpose by many people to get where we are today.”
With the actual water supply intake is located underwater, the County erected a monument at the Shoal Creek Filter Plant to commemorate Mason’s contributions. The monument represents the water production process of drawing water from Lake Lanier, cleaning and treating the water, and then distributing it to nearly one million residents and the many businesses in the County. The monument provides an additional educational component to the plant’s public tours.