The former Martin Marietta quarry in Auburn is taking shape as a regional reservoir, with water filling the basin as construction continues to secure a long-term supply for Winder and Auburn. Local officials, engineers and community leaders gathered Monday to showcase the progress made on a regional water project that will convert a former rock quarry into a long-term drinking water source. The project, a partnership between the cities of Winder and Auburn, will transform the former Martin Marietta rock quarry on Parks Mill Road in Auburn into a reservoir capable of holding more than one billion gallons of water. Multiple engineering teams and agencies worked together on the effort, emphasizing long-term planning. “Throughout this process, we have really one guiding, very simple principle that was built something that was reliable today and would be responsible for the decades to come,” said Marty Boyd, president of Carter and Sloope, the engineering firm leading the project. The project includes a concrete-lined storage pond, multiple intake points along the Mulberry and Little Mulberry rivers, and more than 13 miles of pipeline connecting the system to treatment facilities. Boyd
