ANSWER TO LAKE LEVEL CONTROL AND DESIGN BASIS FOR AUGUSTA LOCK AND DAM ARE THE SAME BUT OUR CONGRESSMAN AREN'T LISTENING

I've been working to try and get Corps to respect the effect of poor drought control on real estate and business ventures along the Savannah River Basin for over 10 years.  The answer to the problem is simple but I have not been able to get our congressman to understand the answer.  The problem is economic impact is not included in the 8 or so responsibilities assigned the Corps concerning the basin.  They see flood control, hydro power, navigation, recreation, water quality, water supply, and fish and wildlife as their responsibilities.  If economic impact were included they would suddenly be forced to consider what is happening to lake levels and height of the dam at Augusta and the rest would be simple.

It is my understanding talking with people who have worked with congress that adding such a requirement would be simple for our congressmen to do.  It would involve some closed door sessions with committees having these responsibilities and a simple addition of such a requirement to the list of Corps responsibilities.

Unfortunately human nature being what it is our congressmen assume it can't possibly be such a simple answer and they get all bogged down in the technical double talk the Corps does.  The Corps is not being bad. They are simply quoting what their guidelines and oversight organizations such as the EPA are demanding.

SOMEHOW WE'VE GOT TO FIND AT LEAST ONE CONGRESSMAN WHO WILL LISTEN AND ADD ECONOMICS TO THE CORPS RESPONSIBILITIES.  THERE ARE TWO CONGRESSMAN ASSOCIATED WITH THE AUGUSTA LOCK AND DAM AND TWO MORE ASSOCIATED WITH THE LAKES, EACH OF WHICH COULD EASILY MAKE THIS CHANGE.  BUT INSTEAD OF LISTENING TO US THEY ARE CONFUSED BY WHAT THE CORPS IS TELLING THEM AND HAVE NO CLUE WHAT WE ARE SAYING.

WE ARE STILL ON PAST FAILED DROUGHT PLAN

Since we had those meetings a year or so back about an improved drought plan most folks probably are operating on the assumption that performance of the lakes during this drought will be better.  Unfortunately that is not the case.  The new plan is still not in effect and we still have no concrete date on when that will be.  Meanwhile if this drought doesn't end soon we are headed for another reputation busting season of drastically low lake levels.

And as a reminder the Corps still has no responsibility for minimizing destruction of economics around the lakes (eg. real estate values, business income, tourism).  We have two government entities to thank for all this.  Your congressman could correct this immediately by adding economics to the Corps responsibilities and the corps could act on their own as engineers instead of procedure followers to manage the lakes responsibly.

The Fox is Still Minding the Hen House When it Comes to the Future Prosperity of Our Lakes

After spending Millions and several years time trying to better the future prosperity of our lake area we still are at the mercy of the Corps.  They are to our lakes the same as the EPA is to the future of fossil fuels. Rather than considering the prosperity of communities around the lakes the Corps is using guidelines that ignore the financial impact of their actions.  Just as changing EPA regulations to more reasonable thinking has led to a huge impact on the financial health of the US, similar changes to drought management practices around our lakes could lead to fantastic growth of lake communities.

An excellent example is the way they are handling the lock and dam below Augusta and North Augusta.  Beautiful river front property can greatly impact a city and does so for many cities around the country.  By ignoring financial impact the Corps is making their modifications in a manner that will do serious harm to the attractiveness and value of the riverfront property currently shared by both cities during a severe drought.

Regarding the lakes, ignoring financial impacts means the Corps will allow the lakes to drop 2' below full pool before they initiate reduced releases during a drought.  Otherwise they would start drought protection immediately upon the lakes falling below full pool. And ignoring financial impacts has allowed the Corps to delay initiation of the improved drought protection they did come up with till next year sometime.  We are just lucky we haven't experienced a severe drought like the ones of the last 20 years.

Looking to the future, a severe drought will destroy the beauty of the riverfront between Augusta and North Augusta.  Once that happens there is only one source of water to better the problem and that is from drought starved lakes.  Current Corps regs will prevent them using lake releases to help but once property values between Augusta and North Augusta are being destroyed anything is possible in terms of congress or someone demanding changes.

Major Loop Hole Needs Fixing or We will be in Serious Trouble With Lake Levels

I've been working on getting a provision into Corps responsibilities that they must protect economic impact along the shoreline (eg real estate, marinas, shoreline at Augusta/North Augusta) in their guidelines and it needs to be equal to fish and wildlife concerns.  If we get that done now before the Augusta Lock and Dam is redone with a fish passage then it puts the responsibility of protecting Augusta's shore line into the design of the fish passage.  That would also eliminate a lot of the problems we have on lake level control.  For example that would dictate that the Corps start minimum release rates as soon as the lake starts falling in a drought rather than after the lakes have dropped 2'.

But there is a major loop hole here.  If we don't get that in the provisions until after the fish passage is built, then that would put extra pressure on the corps to save Augusta pool levels with increased releases from Thurmond.  If you doubt that the fish passage is going to complicate lake level control just step ahead in time to a point where the sides of the river along Augusta and North Augusta start falling in and the economy of Augusta and North Augusta is at stake.  There is only one place they can get more water to correct that and it is the lakes. The people of Augusta and North Augusta will get political help or whatever is needed to get at that water and the lakes will be screwed.

If we get the economic provision in Corps guidelines before the fish passage is built it will force the Corps to look at how to design the fish passage so that it doesn't harm Augusta and North Augusta ventures along the river.

SILVER BULLET FOR DEALING WITH CORPS ON LAKE AND RIVER ISSUES

We've been dealing with the corps for over 10 years on lake levels trying to get them to act responsibly concerning lake stakeholder interests.  Initially they had about 8 issues they would come back to us with as to why they couldn't do what we were requesting.  Issues from the sturgeon being an endangered species to oxygen levels in the harbor were used to shut down any conversation about improving the drought plan for the Savannah River Basin.  We got past all these only to have the corps stop us with one final issue.  They state that congress has given them a list of the issues they need to consider in their work and economics such as real estate values or impact on business interests were not on that list. If one of our congressmen such as Rick Allen were to get that added to the list we would be able to come full circle on the drought plan (almost there but one more change needed to optimize our drought plan).

One of our members who worked for years in Washington with congress has explained to me that such a change (add economics to corps responsibilities with regard to the Savannah River Basin) would be easy to accomplish as a local regulation favoring a few congressmen's needs. Before the climate Trump has generated this might have been problematic but with the new attitude of being reasonable with EPA concerns this should be doable now. Rick Allen is the first congressman connected with the Savannah River Basin to come at this from the standpoint of being willing to do whatever is needed to get this right.

Here is a quick look at how this changes things.  Let's say the controlling factor concerning the future of the lock and dam  is the sturgeon.  No problem.  If economics were one of the Corps' responsibilities they would simply be forced to design the fish ladder in a manner that takes care of the sturgeon and does not drop the river below current levels.  Right now they are only directed to protect the sturgeon without any responsibility toward business interests. The River Keeper already has a proposal that would accomplish that but the corps has no reason to listen. AND BASED ON PAST EXPERIENCE THEY WILL NOT LISTEN.

COMMENTS SENT TO CORPS IN RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR COMMENTS

FOLLOWING IS AN EMAIL SENT BY ONE OF OUT PEOPLE TO THE CORPS IN RESPONSE TO THEIR REQUESTS FOR COMMENTS CONCERNING CONSTRUCTION OF A FISH PASSAGE IN PLACE OF THE AUGUSTA LOCK AND DAM.  THE EMAIL WAS SENT BY ONE OF OUR MEMBERS.


Several things are very disturbing about your proposal.

 1) you are showing levels for 5,000cfs to fish ladder but during severe droughts the flows will be much lower than that.  Your design needs to be for the flows anticipated during the droughts of record experienced since 2001.

 2) the sturgeon are no longer an endangered species.  Since they have not been able to get to Thurmond dam since 1930 it is ludicrous to destroy the economics of North Augusta and Augusta in the pretense that we have to put in a fish ladder

 3) As with lake levels the corps ignores economic impact of lake and river levels.  I understand you feel congress has not provided that in your responsibilities.   As engineers responsible for the SRB the corps should be going to congress and recommend economics be added to your concerns.

NOTE THAT PROBLEMS WITH THE RIVER LEVEL AT AUGUSTA/NORTH AUGUSTA WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY TRANSLATE TO SCREAMS FOR EXTRA RELEASES FROM THURMOND DURING A SEVERE DROUGHT LIKE THE ONES WE HAVE HAD NUMEROUS TIMES SINCE 2001.

THE ADDRESS FOR COMMENTS IS:CESAS-PD@usace.army.mil.  IF YOU SEND COMMENTS THE CORPS WILL PROBABLY NEVER LET THEM SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY SO COPY JERRY CLONTZ AT bgclontz@gmail.com AND HE WILL GET THEM PUBLISHED ON THIS BLOG SITE.

THE CORPS IS MAKING A HUGE MISTAKE WITH CURRENT DROUGHT PLANNING AND CURRENT PLANS FOR AUGUSTA LOCK AND DAM

At present everyone is lulled into a false sense of security concerning both The Augusta Lock and Dam and the final drought plan for the lakes that goes into effect this summer. The problem is the Corps adamantly refuses to consider economics in their planning.  With lake levels the corps claims economics is not part of the instructions they have from congress.  With the Augusta Lock and Dam they not only refuse to look at economics but they also are overstepping EPA guidance on wild life protection.

The only way we are going to get the Corps to factor in economics is to get help from one of our Senators or congressman.  Unfortunately congressional help is not available because Jeff Duncan refuses to help with this and Jodi Hice is following incorrect advice.  David Purdue would be an ideal senator to help because of his familiarity with Augusta and Lindsay Graham would be good because of his familiarity with the Lake Hartwell area and concerns for North Augusta economics. It would only take a short meeting to explain why the Corps is messing up but to date we have been unable to get the ear of either of these senators.  We desperately need help in getting the ear of one of these Senators.  If you know a way to set up a meeting, Save Our Lakes Now would be glad to meet with them at the location and time of their choice. The contact for Save Our Lakes Now for such a meeting is Jerry Clontz in McCormick, SC (email address bgclontz@gmail.com).

All our arguments on fine tuning lake level control and design of the Augusta Lock and Dam have been laid out in past releases of the Save Our Lakes Now Blog (www. saveourlakesnow.blogspot.com).  Rather than attempt a lengthy repeat of those arguments I recommend anyone interested in this problem review the blog releases of the past 12 months. With our recommended changes to the drought plan the lakes would finally gain a good reputation on lake levels which would have a fantastic impact on lake area economics.  Without our recommended changes we will never get past a reputation for poor lake levels.  With our recommendations on the lock and dam design we will avoid lake levels competing with pool levels at Augusta.  Without our recommendations the pool level will drop unacceptably in severe droughts and the lake and Augusta will become opposing interests concerning release rates during droughts.