Water Levels

The Corps of Engineers is already planning for the impact of Georgia's loss in the water wars court case, according to the Atlanta Journal Consitution.

The Corps has spent time re-writing its operating manuals in case no agreement is reached between Georgia, Alabama and Flordia and Georgia loses its appeal against the original court decision. If that happens the Corps will need force Atlanta's water withdrawals back down to 1970 levels.

The public will have 45 days to comment on the Corps’ plans starting today.

• Comments should be submitted in writing to Tetra Tech Inc., 107 Saint Francis St., Suite 1403, Mobile, AL 32206-9986
• Comments also can be submitted online.

The Gainesville Times quotes Mobile District Chief of Public Affairs E. Patrick Robbins as saying:

"With the exception of two relatively small relocation contracts for the Cities of Gainesville and Buford, the Court determined that neither watersupply withdrawals from Lake Lanier nor releases for water supply from the Chattahoochee River downstream, were authorized project purposes. In light of the significant new circumstances and information associated with the Judge’s ruling, the Corps will reopen the scoping process to gather stakeholder input regarding these new circumstances to be considered in its preparation of the Master Water Control Manual and EIS."

Sonny Perdue's spokesman Bert Brantle commented:

“I don’t think anybody… believes the [judge’s] ruling will go into effect in 2012. We think that we will have some resolution by then. So any resource that went into updating [the Corps manuals] based on that ruling won’t be helpful any more.”

Below is today's Federal Notice of Intent, from the Corp of Engineers: