MOBILE, Ala.-– The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has spent years working on new regulatory documents for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) Basin and now officials are ready to get some feedback from the public.
Late last week, the Corps released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and Water Control Manual (WCM) for the ACF for public review and comment. Once interested parties have seen the documents, they'll have a chance to talk with federal officials at five public open houses across the region, the first of those to be held in Gainesville on October 26.
USACE Public Affairs Officer Patrick Robbins said in a press statement the documents propose changes for the future operations of the ACF.
Under the new plan, "USACE would continue to operate the ACF as a system in a balanced manner to achieve all authorized project purposes," according to Robbins.
Part of the ACF is Lake Lanier, the operation of which has been a bone of contention for more than two decades for state officials in Georgia, Florida and Alabama. All three states disagree on water allocation from Lanier.
The Proposed Action Alternative (PAA) for the ACF includes the following changes from current operations:
- Revised action zones
- Revised drought operations trigger
- Seasonal minimum flows at Peachtree Creek
- Modified hydropower generation schedule at Buford Dam for drought operations
- Four to five month navigation season (when basin hydrologic conditions allow)
- Suspension of ramping rates (Jim Woodruff Dam) during prolonged low flows
- Revised West Point Lake flood zone segmentation
The PAA also includes the following water supply provisions:
- Gross withdrawals of 225 mgd [million of gallons per day] upstream of Buford Dam (includes reallocation of storage in Lake Lanier sufficient to provide gross water supply withdrawals of 165 mgd, the existing 20 mgd relocation contracts and 40 mgd from the proposed Glades Farm Reservoir in Hall County)
- Releases from Buford Dam to support downstream withdrawals of the estimated year 2040 need of 408 mgd
The open house dates and locations are as follows:
October 26, 2015 Gainesville, Georgia Gainesville Civic Center 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. (EDT) 830 Green Street NE Gainesville, GA 30501
October 27, 2015 West Point, Georgia West Point Depot 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. (EDT) 500 3rd Ave West Point, GA 31833
October 28, 2015 Eufaula, Alabama James S. Clark Center 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. (CDT) 333 East Broad Street Eufaula, AL 36027
October 29, 2015 Bainbridge, Georgia Kirbo Regional Center 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. (EDT) 2500 E. Shotwell Street Bainbridge, Georgia 39819
November 9, 2015 Eastpoint, Florida Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. (EDT) Environmental Education and Training Center 108 Island Drive Eastpoint, Florida 32328
An online version of the DEIS and appendices may be found at http://www.sam.usace.army.mil. CDs will be available at the public meetings or by request to USACE. Requests should be addressed to Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, Attn: PD-EI (ACF-DEIS), P.O. Box 2288, Mobile, AL 36628.
The final document is supposed to be completed and filed with the Environmental Protection Agency by fall 2016. Following that reviewm the ACF Water Control Manual is scheduled to be approved in Winter/Spring 2017.
