The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mobile District has released the Final Environmental Impact Statement and Water Control Manual for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin for a 30-day state and agency review.
It includes a number of drought-related suggestions involving the release of water from Lake Lanier. Among them: drought operation "triggers" and "modified" power generation schedules for Buford Dam, which forms Lake Lanier. Withdrawal of water both upstream and downstream of the dam is also addressed.
The FEIS presents the results of USACE’s analysis of the environmental effects of the Proposed Action Alternative (PAA) for the ACF River Basin Water Control Manual.
“USACE evaluated an array of potential water management and water supply storage alternatives during the WCM update process, resulting in the selection of the PAA. Under the PAA, USACE would continue to operate the ACF as a system in a balanced manner to achieve all authorized project purposes,” said USACE Mobile District Public Affairs Officer E. Patrick Robbins.
The PAA includes the following changes from current operations:
- Revised action zones
- Revised drought operations triggers
- 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 242 million gallons per day (mgd) upstream of Buford Dam (includes
reallocation of storage in Lake Lanier sufficient to provide gross water supply withdrawals of 222
mgd and the existing 20 mgd relocation contracts)
- Releases from Buford Dam to support downstream withdrawals of the estimated year 2050
sufficient to accommodate up to 379 mgd
- Compliance with the directive of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
The full FEIS and appendices can be found here.
