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.