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September 2, 2010
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Water Dispute may speed up reservoir project
Published August 23, 2009
Georgia’s water wars with Alabama and Florida may result in the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir pushing up its timetable — and reaching capacity ahead of schedule.
Recently, representatives from the Hard Labor Creek Management Board met with Gov. Sonny Perdue’s chief of staff, Ed Holcombe, and other deputy executive counsel in talks about the possibility of the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir being a player to help with regional water concerns.
“Discussion centered on how state funds from grants or loans may be utilized in order to build out the reservoir earlier than originally planned,” Walton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Kevin Little said. “Discussions were also on the supply of excess water from the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir to other jurisdictions as a result of the decision of a federal judge about Lake Lanier.
“I think Walton County for once could be in the right place at the right time.”
Tuesday’s Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Management Board meeting concluded with a discussion on the events playing out at the state and national level, how they will affect the dynamics of the reservoir as it prepares to break ground and the impression left after the meeting with state officials.
“The thing we carried away from the meeting was that the state was more interested in how fast the project could be built out to the full capacity of 62 million gallons per day,” said Jimmy Parker, vice president of Precision Planning Inc., project managers for the reservoir. “The date they gave us was 2012.”
A federal judge has ruled Georgia does not have the right to use Lake Lanier as a water source for residents and set a timetable of three years — or 2012 — for the Atlanta area to figure out what to do without its main source of water. State officials have been scrambling around to negotiate deals with Alabama and Florida for future water while behind the scenes, Georgia’s leaders are looking at a variety of ways to fill the void when access is altered to Lake Lanier and possibly Lake Allatoona, whose fate as a water source for the state is waiting for a federal judge’s ruling.
While the $350 million Hard Labor Creek Reservoir is still in the land acquisition portion of its first phase, reservoir officials are looking at the matter at hand from a cautiously opportunistic standpoint. The Hard Labor Creek Reservoir, according to officials, is the project furthest along in development in the state.
“(The state) is looking at new ways they can put water projects in the ground fast,” Little said at the meeting. “We are one of only two reservoir projects in the state right now. We are on the state radar now and we need to stay that way because when the state moves, they are going to move fast.”
Parker presented to the HLCR management board a scenario where the reservoir could be done by 2012 and at full capacity — 62 mgd. The overall cost of the project would increase $18 million but the sale of water could help offset interest costs.
Board officials — comprised of representatives from Walton and Oconee counties, as well as the Walton County Water and Sewerage Authority — were quick to center discussion around considering such a move only if they get a large amount of state or federal funding. Perhaps more importantly, though, board members were quick to make sure that no matter what deal is made, it does not impact the project’s ability to meet the needs of Walton and Oconee county residents and control of the project remains local.
“We indicated to (state officials) that we will only be a crutch,” Little said. “When Walton County and Oconee County grow to need that water, it will go away. We need to put a solution in place that is good for us and good for the metro region.”
In addition to a high-level meeting with the governor’s office, HLCR officials said they have also made preliminary contact with Gwinnett County officials about possibly filling in the gap when the spouts at Lake Lanier are turned off.
State officials said they would contact reservoir officials in the coming weeks.
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