Wednesday, December 24, 2003

Do South Fulton’s 3 cities really need a big new reservoir?

By DENNIS CHASE

Alas, but Georgia’s water woes continue!

Three years ago, the Georgia General Assembly established and then gave direction to the Metropolitan North Georgia Water District to address the growing problems with water availability, water quality and watershed management. Late this year, three plans were finalized with the intent to fulfill that direction.

Development of those plans was expensive, involving an impressive array of consultants and staff of the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC). Dozens of drafts were viewed and reviewed by some of the best experts available with the assistance of technical subcommittees. In addition, another large group of citizens, myself included, volunteered hundreds of hours each on the six river basin councils. We reviewed various drafts and attended dozens of meetings to offer comments, suggestions, recommendations, and discuss the difficult issues. The end products are pretty to look at, and contain a vast amount of detailed data on every conceivable use of water imaginable.

The problem is that even as the ink was drying during those preparations, high-level politicians and others with influence were insisting on changes to those parts which impacted their particular city, county or industry. That heavy pressure to force change is not a surprise to anyone. The surprise, and disappointment, is how quickly and how often those changes occurred.

Numbers magically rose or fell, appeared or disappeared, until, well, until we have happy politicians and “business as usual” in North Georgia. The big counties nearest the water source get what they want and everyone else gets what’s left over. Those industries that impact our watersheds the most have been given a get-out-of-jail free card and many impacts are not addressed.

Let me give you a current issue as an example of what I’m talking about. Three cities in South Fulton County have had problems with the city of Atlanta, which is their source of drinking water. They also have constant problems with Fulton County, which currently handles a large portion of the wastewater treatment requirements for their area.

It would appear that a consultant convinced Palmetto, Fairburn and Union City to band together and form their own water and sewer authority, now known as the South Fulton Water and Sewer Authority.

The authority soon located a reservoir site which would produce enough water for their needs and have applied for a permit. They also continue to work toward becoming independent from the Fulton County sewer system.

Perhaps, knowing of Atlanta’s recent difficulties, you would sympathize with those cities and agree that finding their own water source was a good idea. However, as of late 2002, the Metropolitan North Georgia Water District reports had calculated that the entire area had water available from the city of Atlanta sufficient for South Fulton County’s needs through at least the year 2030.

When the plans for the Authority’s Bear Creek Reservoir were put out for evaluation, ARC staff asked their consultants for their opinion on the need for the reservoir. Last February they answered with a very clear e-mail message which confirmed that there was adequate water and that the reservoir was not needed to meet projected drinking water requirements.

When that e-mail reached the new authority and the three cities, the response was a barrage of letters from city staff, mayors and city council persons to the district. The report was quickly changed to conclude that there is a water shortage for our unfortunate friends in South Fulton County.

When I attended a public hearing on the proposed new reservoir, I asked the obvious question: “In February of this year, the district indicated there was adequate water for South Fulton. Do you have an updated response from the district to correct their earlier position and substantiate why their report now concludes that now there is not enough water?”

If it wasn’t such a serious matter, the bureaucratic shuffle and misdirection answer I received would be funny. I repeated the question over and over, trying to get a response, but the quick shuffle continued.

Since the consultants couldn’t, or wouldn’t, answer the question, I asked the same question of district staff. It took two weeks and several follow-up phone calls before they responded with ­ you guessed it — the identical non-answer. It was like an echo from the public meeting which again would also be amusing except, as I already said, destroying 300-plus acres of our environment is a serious matter!

Since I cannot obtain a straight answer from any of them, let me make a wild guess as to what it might be. The notorious Feb. 19, 2003, e-mail from the district arrives at the South Fulton County consultant’s office and is sent to every city for their information.

A wide array of politicians immediately become involved in what they see as a disastrous conclusion and bombard the district, ARC and their local state representatives with demands that this “bad” information has to be changed.

The ARC/district consultant that prepared the February e-mail soon receives a call suggesting that if his consulting firm expects to do any further business with the district or ARC, the numbers must be rearranged to reach the conclusion that South Fulton County will be short of water unless they construct a new reservoir.

Remember, I said, this was pure speculation on my part, but only some similar explanation can answer why the report was changed so quickly. Incidentally, it also explains why they can’t respond to my simple question.

This particular issue is now in the hands of the Savannah District Corps of Engineers who will wait until after Jan. 5, 2004 (date when public comment period closes), to either issue a Clean Water Act permit for the reservoir, deny the permit or start an in-depth review of the baseline data.

Unfortunately, we are dealing with an administration in Washington that is not kind to the budget allocations for any federal agency that comes down on the side of protection of the environment. Nationwide, environmentalists agree that President Bush now has the poorest record of protecting our environment, so a decision to deny the permit would be a surprise.

Maybe that minor miracle will happen, or perhaps a lawsuit will be the next step by someone to keep this unnecessary environmental disaster from taking place.

And now you know why I conclude that Georgia’s water woes continue as usual.

Dennis Chase, now retired, was a fish and wildlife biologist with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service for more than 26 years. Since retiring, he has worked as a consultant for Fayette County on environmental concerns, is a volunteer with the Southern Conservation Trust Inc., and has published numerous newspaper columns.