Chance of teamwork on Lanier now dim

By Harry West

Before we get carried away with the imagined impact of Judge Paul (Mr. Common Sense) Magnuson’s decision on Lake Lanier, let us remember that the issue is how best to use the available water in the Chattahoochee/Flint/Apalachicola (ACF) system. There may be a time in the future when water from the Savannah, Tennessee or some other river is needed to sustain the current rate of growth in the northern half of Georgia.

But that time is not now.

The best calculations show that more than enough water is available from Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River as currently supplemented by Lake Allatoona and other smaller systems to meet the Atlanta region’s needs, without negatively impacting downstream users, if and that’s a big if, the flow from Lake Lanier is properly managed.

Several approaches to improving the management of the flow in the Chattahoochee have been advanced over the past 30-plus years and one by one have been buried by one group or the other. Let’s also remind ourselves that federal law requires a minimum flow in the river at all times of 600 cubic feet per second at Peachtree Creek. To make sure there is enough water there to meet downstream requirements and assimilate treated wastewater, all planning for water use has increased this minimum to 700 cubic feet per second.

Why does the flow of water in the river need to be better managed? The hydropower production that Judge Magnuson so highly values is what is known as peaking power, only produced a couple of times each day to meet the increased demand when we get up in the morning and come home in the evening. The rest of the time the flow through Buford Dam is minimal; about 600 cubic feet per second for most of the 24-hour day and 6,000 cubic feet per second during the peak power production, or 10 times the normal flow.

The first proposal to better manage this situation was to construct a “re-regulation” dam on the Chattahoochee about six miles downstream from the Buford Dam. This new dam would collect the large surges of water when peaking power was produced and then release it in a regulated flow, eliminating the large surges that quickly go past municipal water intakes. This proposal was endorsed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Georgia General Assembly passed legislation that would have allowed the Atlanta Regional Commission to build and operate the dam. Environmentalists and others became enraged and the Corps withdrew its support.

The second proposal was to buy out the interests of the power recipients. The power generated at Buford Dam is sold by the Corps to the Southeastern Power Administration (SEPA), which in turn sells it to preferred customers (electric cooperatives). The proposal was to negotiate with the electric co-ops and SEPA, determine an agreed-upon value and have the cities and counties pay for the replacement power that would not be produced at Buford so the water could be used for municipal purposes. After sitting on someone’s desk for years, this proposal was recently disallowed by the federal courts in the District of Columbia.

The most recent proposal was to reallocate storage of water in Lanier so that it could be guaranteed for water supply. The Corps was willing to accomplish the reallocation. This is the action that Judge Magnuson has ruled that only the Congress has the authority to do.

During this time, the Atlanta region and Georgia have been actively planning — contrary to the criticism and accusation from others. More has been done here for water conservation than anywhere in the Southeast, beginning as early as 1976, when the General Assembly passed the first required water-conserving toilet legislation, then known affectionately as the “potty bill.” This legislation has been improved over time, and many other actions to conserve water have been enacted, the result being that Georgians use much less water per person per day than our antagonist to the south.

So what now? Is there room for common sense? Can we proceed without acrimony and name calling? Can we put outdated rivalries aside and understand we are all in this together?

Experience of the past 35 years would lead me to say no.

Harry West, a Georgia Tech professor, was director of the Atlanta Regional Commission from 1973 to 2000.