Only three people stepped forward last month when the Walton County Water and Sewer Authority invited residents of Oconee and Walton counties to offer comments on an Environmental Information Document prepared for the planned water treatment plant on the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir.
Oconee County is partner with Walton County on the reservoir and the planned treatment plant, which, at some point in the future, is expected to be expanded to treat water pumped from the Apalachee River.
Oconee County’s planned new park on the 246 acre Land Application System site on Rocky Branch Road will be named the Wendell and Betty Dawson Park following action taken by the Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night.
The Board passed a resolution naming the future park for the Dawsons early in the meeting, citing Wendell Dawson’s service to “his country, state and county in a long and honorable career” and stating that “his wife Betty Dawson has been a constant support and help in all of his service.”
The Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Management Board on Tuesday voted to award an $18.6 million contract for a construction manager for a water treatment plant at the Walton County reservoir.
The Board also voted to award a nearly $600,000 contract for design of the water transmission line from the planned treatment plant to Walton County’s water distribution system.
The Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Management Board took four steps last week to move forward with construction of a water treatment plant and transmission lines on the reservoir in Walton County jointly owned by Oconee and Walton counties.
The Board agreed on a professional services agreement to assess the water in the reservoir, authorized a request for qualifications for water treatment facilities and transmission line designs, and authorized a request for qualifications for construction of the facilities.
Oconee County has told Walton County that it will not pay its full share of the costs of building a water treatment plant at the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir that the two counties built and own in Walton County.
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell told his fellow commissioners on Tuesday night that he had met with Walton County Commission Chair David Thompson on Aug. 26.
Daniell said he informed Thompson at that meeting that Oconee County is willing to pay only $12 million toward construction of the plant.
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget has informed Walton County that its application for funding for a water treatment plant for Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir has been approved tentatively at $42 million.
Walton Commission Chair David Thompson announced at a called meeting of the reservoir Management Board last week that he had been notified of the favorable review of the county’s application for funding on July 14.
Walton County has touted the value of the water in the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir for economic development in a $115.5 application for federal relief funds it has submitted for construction of a water treatment plant and distribution system for the reservoir.
The county submitted the application for the Oct. 31 deadline, and on Dec. 16 Gov. Brian Kemp announced that the state had put together an incentive package to lure electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian to a site straddling the Walton and Morgan county lines along I-20.
The state has not revealed the details of the incentive package for Rivian, but water and sewer are an essential part.
Walton County Commission Chair David Thompson did not file an application for federal relief funding of a water treatment plant and distribution system for Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir on Aug. 19 as he had promised, or on Aug. 31, the original application deadline.
Walton Board of Commissioners Clerk Rhonda Hawk explained Thompson’s decision by noting that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has extended the deadline to Oct. 31 for applications for allocation of federal funding for pandemic relief.
A draft of the Walton County application shared with Oconee County officials after the Aug. 11 meeting of the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board states that the treated water is needed to serve “the emerging industrial corridors” along Interstate 20, U.S. 78 and SR 316.
Over the objections of two of Oconee County’s representatives, the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Management Board on Wednesday voted to fund a lobbyist to assist in an application for $146 million in federal funds to build the reservoir’s water treatment plant and distribution system.
Oconee County has only three representatives on the seven-member Management Board and no representatives on the Walton County Water and Sewer Authority, which also agreed on Wednesday to spend the money in support of the application for federal funds.
Walton County Board of Commissioners Chair David Thompson, a member of the Management Board, said Walton County already has the application of the funds ready to submit and will go forward with or without the support of Oconee County, its partner in the reservoir project.
Walton County Board of Commissioners Chair David Thompson announced on Tuesday that he has been meeting with officials from Newton County about sale of water from the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir to Newton County.
Thompson said he had three meetings with Newton County officials in recent months and that state officials also had been involved.
Thompson said the state is supportive of the interbasin transfer of water from the Oconee to Ocmulgee river basins. The water could help with development of a massive research park along I-20 on the southern tip of the county, he said.
Oconee County is expecting the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to modify its June 2008 Apalachee River Withal Permit and reduce the amount of water Oconee and Walton counties can withdraw from the river for the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir.
The state Environmental Protection Division also is likely to add monitoring requirements to the permit, including using new stream flow gauges, quality monitoring stations and biological monitoring activities.
The Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board and the Walton County Water and Sewer Authority are waiting on final action by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division on a request for renewal of withdrawal permits from Hard Labor Creek and the Apalachee River.
Jimmy Parker, project manager for the reservoir, said “We have addressed all EPD comments related to water demand and future needs.”
The Walton County Water and Sewer Authority is waiting on a response from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to the Authority’s application for renewal of its permits to draw water from the existing Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir as well as from the Apalachee River.
The Authority submitted its renewal request for the two permits on May 3, but, according to Jimmy Parker from Precision Planning Inc., who represents the Authority, the Georgia EPD is holding up action until the Authority acquires land for an intake facility on the Apalachee River.
The Morgan County Board of Commissioners Tuesday morning unanimously passed a resolution stating its opposition to locating an intake facility for the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir on the Apalachee River in Morgan County.
The resolution states support for the reservoir, a partnership between Walton and Oconee counties.
Morgan and Oconee county residents opposed to the proposed intake facility on the Apalachee River in Morgan County for an expanded Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir got their first major victory on Tuesday evening.
Three of the five members of the Morgan County Board of Commissioners said they support citizens who are opposing construction of the intake facility in Morgan County.
Residents in Morgan and Oconee counties who live along the Apalachee River and are opposed to the proposed intake facility on the river in Morgan County for the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir have two opportunities this week to voice their concerns.
The Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board has set aside two times for public comment on its agenda for its meeting at 1 p.m. on Tuesday at the historic Courthouse in downtown Monroe–one at the beginning and another near the end.
Consultants for the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir project asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in July of 2017 to bypass the public hearing process and allow construction of an intake facility on the Apalachee River to pump water to the reservoir in the future.
The Corps indicated that it would reject the request for a waiver of a public hearing process in August of last year.
Morgan County will ask the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to hold a public hearing on the request by the Walton County Water and Sewer Authority for an intake facility on the Apalachee River in Morgan County and for an extension of the permit for withdrawal of water from the river.
The county also will ask for a public meeting with the Water and Sewer Authority, engineers for the project, and the Corps to answer questions from the public about the project, according to Morgan County Manager Adam Mestres.
The Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board in August of last year asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for an extension of its permit to withdraw water from the Apalachee River, but it has not yet received that extension.
The original permit expired on Feb. 28, 2014, and had been extended to February of 2019.
Residents living along the Apalachee River turned out in force on Sunday, producing a petition after nearly two hours of discussion with 73 names on it directed toward the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Petitioners are asking the Corps to hold a public hearing on a previously undisclosed decision by the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board to move its planned intake site on the Apalachee River from High Shoals to several miles south in Morgan County.
