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Name:
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NautiMinded
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Subject:
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River flowing strong
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Date:
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10/9/2007 12:48:35 PM
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Here's the explanation:
Corps cuts water flow into Alabama from Georgia lakes
Thursday, October 04, 2007
DAVID WHITE
News staff writer
MONTGOMERY - Despite criticism by Gov. Bob Riley, the Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday reduced water flow into Alabama by cutting releases by at least 129.25 million gallons a day from Allatoona Lake in north Georgia.
The lake feeds a tributary of the Coosa River, which joins with the Tallapoosa River near Wetumpka to form the Alabama River.
"We must reduce generation from Allatoona to prevent depletion of the lake and endanger reservoir refilling in the face of the increasing probability of a multiyear drought," said Lisa Coghlan, a spokeswoman with the Corps in Mobile.
Combined water releases from Allatoona and Carters lakes, which the Corps manages in Georgia and which also feeds a tributary of the Coosa River, averaged 1,033 cubic feet per second over the past week, said James Hathorn, a hydraulic engineer with the Corps in Mobile.
Corps officials said the flow reduction that began Wednesday would cut releases from Allatoona from 700 to 500 cfps. That means the release of 129.25 million fewer gallons a day.
Hathorn said the Corps, under its operating rules, could reduce the combined flow from Allatoona and Carters lakes to as little as 750 cfps, which would be 283 cfps less than last week's water flow. Corps officials announced plans for the flow reduction last week.
In a letter sent Tuesday to Col. Byron Jorns, commander of the Corps' Mobile District, Riley said the reduction would worsen water quality in the Coosa River and lakes on the river and cause other problems.
"This decision will cause serious environmental damage to the state of Alabama, and it has the high likelihood of causing serious disruptions to Alabama's public water supply, electric power grid and industrial work force," Riley wrote.
He wrote that the reduction of water flow from Allatoona would force Alabama "to take every action we can to correct this reckless, unjustified and punitive curtailment."
`Worst days ahead':
Last week, a branch chief at the Corps' Mobile District, Doug Otto, said reducing flows from Allatoona made sense, because water from the lake might be needed even more downstream a year from now.
And Jorns said Wednesday, "The drought's worst days are ahead of us, not behind us." He made the statement in a conference call that Corps officials held with federal and state officials representing Alabama and Georgia.
When invited to comment during the call, no one from Riley's office did.
Also Wednesday, Alabama Power official Alan Peeples said the utility starting Monday would go through with plans it announced last week to more than halve the amount of water it releases for the Alabama River from dams on the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers.
Alabama Power normally maintains a minimum water flow of 4,640 cfps from dams on the rivers. The utility reduced the combined flow 10 percent to 4,176 cfps in July.
Peeples, a reservoir management supervisor for Alabama Power, said the company plans through Oct. 29 to reduce the flow each week by about another 464 cfps, and then to maintain a water flow of 2,000 cfps starting Nov. 5.
The reductions are intended to slow the drop in lake levels at Lake Martin, Logan Martin Lake and Alabama Power's other storage reservoirs on the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers.
A reduction from 4,640 to 2,000 cfps would mean a reduction in water releases for the Alabama River of about 1.7 billion gallons a day.
Hathorn said a recent study by the Corps said that, if Alabama Power reduced flow for the Alabama River by 20 percent, to 3,712 cfps, "there likely would be no adverse impacts to the general environment." But he added, "We were not able to conclude that flow reductions greater than 20 percent would be limited to a minor environmental impact."
"The Corps has not approved of this reduction," Hathorn said.
Alabama Power spokesman Michael Sznajderman said company officials don't believe they need the Corps' approval to carry out plans to cut water flow.
E-mail: dwhite@bhamnews.com
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