Hall County oasis could disappear under lake

For 15 years, Hall County officials have talked about turning this tract a dozen miles north of Gainesville into a reservoir. The idea dovetails with Gov. Sonny Perdue’s push for new reservoirs to insulate North Georgia from drought. And, best of all for local, state and federal officials, the developer would cover more than half of the Glades Farm Reservoir’s cost.

“It’s very important to have a private partner to leverage the best bang for the public dollar,” said Ken Rearden, public works director for Hall County.

County commissioners approved the plan with little opposition from residents. But critics say the reservoir wouldn’t provide enough water to justify public expense. They label Glades Farm an “amenity” reservoir built primarily for the Austrian developer who wants to sell lakefront property.

“It is just a huge waste of taxpayer money for, basically, a decoration to enhance property values for subdivisions for the wealthy,” said Sally Bethea, executive director of the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. “We cannot afford these megareservoirs, especially if we do not get full yield out of them.”

Bethea’s fight against Glades Farm gained a powerful ally in July when U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson ruled that metro Atlanta, including Gainesville, takes too much water from Lake Lanier. Since then, Florida and Alabama have formally protested construction of the reservoir that would impede water flowing to and from Lanier.

Hall County, consequently, decided last month to postpone its request for a federal reservoir-building permit. But Covington attorney Tommy Craig believes the lake will ultimately be built with private and public dollars.

“Given the present state of most local and state government finances,” said Craig, who represents Hall County, “this is an opportunity to work with private water companies, with their capital and expertise, to develop these projects.”

More sources needed

Magnuson ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers illegally funnels water from Lanier to metro Atlanta. Without a congressionally sanctioned deal within three years, Magnuson ruled, Atlanta must return to mid-1970s water withdrawal levels from Lanier.

Gainesville, which draws 18 million gallons daily from Lanier, would have to get by on 8 million gallons a day if Magnuson’s decision stands.

“Reservoirs, honestly, have to be part of the solution,” said Chris Schrimpf, a Perdue spokesman. “Lake Lanier is our reservoir, but the courts won’t currently allow us to utilize it to its full capacity so we need more water for future growth.”

But Perdue, who has spent the past year slashing the state’s budget, offers few reservoir-building dollars. In fact, Perdue last year took back $40 million in grant money allocated to the Georgia Environmental Facilities Administration that was intended to help communities build reservoirs and other water-supply systems. A $30 million GEFA loan pool remains, but the financial burden falls more heavily on local communities.

Reservoirs are expensive. The proposed Dawson Forest reservoir would cost $600 million to $650 million for a lake that would produce an estimated 100 million gallons of water daily.

Glades Farm is designed to serve two masters: waterfront dwellers and Hall County water users. The 7,000-acre mostly forested tract could one day include hundreds of upscale homes with the lake as centerpiece. The old farmhouse would remain.

Hall County spent about $7 million for the reservoir’s 850 acres. It was prepared to spend an additional $15 million to $25 million to mitigate environmental impacts caused by damming Flat Creek.

The Austrians would’ve covered the cost of the 850-foot-long dam ($17 million). Bethea and others say they also would have dictated water levels — few homeowners countenance muddy river banks during a drought — and how much gets sent downstream for the county’s use.

“This is an amenity lake for a massive private development and for Hall County’s economic development,” said Juliet Cohen, the Riverkeeper’s attorney. “The county and the Austrians are using taxpayer money to fund their private investment, which essentially draws on the fears of people in North Georgia that we’re running out of water.”

Tom Oliver, chairman of the Hall County Commission, said taxpayers would benefit from the county’s investment.

“Even though it may be an ‘amenity’ reservoir, it will definitely end up as a water-management reservoir,” said Oliver, an egg and cattle farmer. “People don’t realize that we’d be storing 11 billion gallons of water there. And, if the need arises, we can [control] that flow.”

Under the current water-sharing scenario, Glades Reservoir would release 6.4 million gallons daily back into Flat Creek to flow into Lanier to be sucked up by Gainesville’s water treatment plant. Bethea and Cohen question whether, during a drought, more water would be released to alleviate downstream needs.

Craig, the attorney handling the reservoir permits, said “70 [percent]-80 percent of the entire storage volume of the water would be available during a drought.” State and federal officials would also dictate water flows.

‘Not the kiss of death’

For 20 years, Georgia’s downriver neighbors have tried to reduce the water that Georgia siphons from the Chattahoochee. Taking any additional water from Lanier, even if it’s just passing temporarily from Glades to Gainesville, is illegal, according to Brian Atkins with Alabama’s Office of Water Resources.

“Such a scheme would violate Corps policy, federal law and a recent court order,” Atkins wrote on Aug. 7 to corps officials considering Hall County’s permit.

Attorney Craig said the judge’s ruling “is not the kiss of death for Glades.”

“But his order is causing everybody with good sense to rethink where we are and where we’re going,” he added.