Army conducting environmental impact study on ACF basin

By Greg Phillips

Published: October 21, 2008

For more detailed information on the ACF River Basin, go to http://www.acf-wcm.com.

Changes are coming to the way the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint River Basin is controlled.

At least that’s what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hopes.

The corps is conducting scoping meetings at each of its four ACF drainage basins, including two that affect the Dothan area—West Point Lake and Walter F. George Lake, also known as Lake Eufaula.

The hope is to use these meetings to gather ideas from the public on how to update the ACF Water Control Manual, which dictates how the basin is controlled.

The manual hasn’t been updated since 1989 and dates to 1958. Before changing the manual, however, the corps will perform an environmental impact study across the basin.

“The last manual was 1958, although we’ve got a draft now that was 1989,” said Lisa Ann Coghlan, deputy public affairs officer for the corps’ Mobile district. “This is the first EIS for the entire basin, and many of the consumptive needs have changed through the basin. Counties have grown, communities have changed. There are a lot of people competing for this water, which I call liquid gold.”

The drought that plagued the Southeast last year drastically affected water levels across the basin.

“The concern is our reservoir operation in the ACF basin. The drought has exposed criticalk needs throughout the basin,” said James Hathorn, a hydraulic engineer for the corps. “We’re ready to update. Times have changed. There’s increased consumption. Navigation is an issue. Water quality is an issue all throughout the basin. We need the public to provide local concerns, and we will then come up with alternatives and update the manual. For Dothan, we’ve had concerns about irrigation in the Flint basin.”

Luckily, the news has been good for Wiregrass residents this year.

“They were happy with the levels at Walter F. George this year, because of the rain, and we didn’t have that in 2007,” Hathorn said. “That was some good news for people in the area. What we can do is reduce the amount of flow required at Lake Seminole, which allows us to store more water at West Point, Walter F.
George and Lanier, but still adhere to the endangered species requirements. That’s one of the reasons you’re able to see higher water levels.”

Coghlan said residents are encouraged to go to http://www.acf-wcm.com to send in feedback for the scoping studies.