MARIETTA - The Cobb Legislative Delegation has appointed Marietta resident Charlie Crowder, owner of Royal Waffle King Corporation and Crowder Realty, LLC, to the seven-member board of the Cobb-Marietta Water Authority.

Crowder takes the seat of long-term authority board member R.L. Jacobs, who died earlier this year, board member Earl Smith said.

Smith said, as a native of Cobb with a successful business background, Crowder is a welcome addition to the board.

"I feel that he'll make a really good authority member," he said.

As the second largest water provider in the state, the authority obtains its water from Lake Allatoona and the Chattahoochee River basins.

Created by an act of the General Assembly in 1951 to provide wholesale drinking water to the region, the authority has 11 customers serving 800,000 people. Cobb County buys 65 percent of the water, Marietta 10 percent and Smyrna about 5 percent. The governing board is composed of the chairs of Cobb and Paulding commissions, appointees from the cities of Marietta and Smyrna, and three appointments by the Cobb delegation.

Crowder said he recognizes the board has "a lot on its plate," with the building of reservoirs and the water negotiations between Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

"I think they do a great job," Crowder said of the authority. "They're a very efficiently run organization," he said.

A graduate of Wheeler High School and Georgia State University, Crowder, 59, is married to Marsha McDaniell, the daughter of former state Rep. Hugh Lee of Cobb County. Crowder and his wife have two children, one grandson and another on the way.

Crowder is a member of First United Methodist Church, Marietta Kiwanis and the Wellstar Foundation Board, among other organizations. His father, Jack E. Crowder, was the regional president of Arrow Shirt Company and a Cobb County citizen of the year.