COMMENT POSTED ON MOST RECENT ISSUE OF BALANCING THE BASIN:
The Corps is doing great with all but one of the responsibilities assigned them by congress.
- Power production may not always meet quota but you get as close as possible.
- Water quality and water supply have been demonstrated to be satisfactory with spans in excess of a year at 3600cfs.
- We have a 3 lake basin but the holding power of the last 2 have been ignored regarding flood holding capacity which gives ample flood protection.
- Protection of environmental concerns is covered well by maintaining releases above 3600cfs.
- Additionally the corps has looked past the worst case scenarios and designed a plan of which basin to destroy first and second and so on when we exceed the drought of record that put us to the bottom of the conservation pool for both Thurmond and Hartwell.
But the Corps, in doing such a superb job on all these concerns has essentially ignored the recreational infrastructure of our basin. These practices have gone to the point of destroying real estate values for homes built on the lake for recreational purposes and discouraged would be developers that would provide still more recreational access to the lakes. The Corps has stated repeatedly that they respond immediately to any stakeholder objections to the way they are operating the basin. This is certainly not true for recreation.
Permit owners are in for a surprise in January when the corps advises those with dock permits that upon renewal they will no longer be able to pump water from the lake to water lawns. This to my understanding will effect all five southeastern districts and is in an effort sole the water shortage at times of drought. However, if your city or county gets their water from the lakes you can still water your lawn you'll just have to pay for it.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a sound decision to me how about you?
Rich