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Late last month, outgoing Gov. Bob Riley was on the shores of Lake Martin near Alexander City lobbying for the creation of a new designation for reservoirs in Alabama.

Executive Order No. 54, signed by Riley at a lakeside ceremony, encouraged the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) to grant “Treasured Alabama Lake” status to Lake Martin.

During the ceremony, Riley said the designation will give ADEM another tool to protect and enhance the state's water resources.

“Alabama is blessed with such an abundance of natural resources,” Riley said. “Too often we take it for granted, but acre for acre, you won't find another state in the country with the wealth of natural resources Alabama has.”

ADEM, which is working with Riley's office and Lake Martin stakeholders to pursue the goal of establishing the new category for lakes, was directed by the Executive Order to “utilize all available guidance, data and information to set designation qualifications, identify candidate reservoirs and create an appropriate special designation recognizing Treasured Alabama Lake status within six months.”

ADEM spokesman Scott Hughes told The Post it will require a coordinated effort by a lot of people in Cherokee County if Weiss Lake — which will celebrate its 50th anniversary later this year — hopes to achieve Treasured Alabama Lake status.

“Weiss Lake is high in nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous,” Hughes said. “That doesn't mean there are recreational hazards, but our 2009 roadmap for improving statewide water quality calls for a 30 percent reduction in those measurements.”

The Post reported last week that the Weiss Lake Improvement Association has begun a monthly testing protocol to determine the source of any raw sewage that many believe is finding its way into the reservoir.

“It is our suspicion that there are multiple campgrounds around Weiss Lake that are not treating their sewage properly and causing this problem,” WLIA President Carolyn Landrem said in The Post on January 10. “We either want to prove that outright, or disprove it.”

Hughes said sewage is a focus for the state and county health departments and not ADEM, which handles larger contaminant sources such as coal-fired plants and other industries.

Probate Judge Melvyn Salter, who also chairs the Cherokee County Commission, said a planned Jan. 13 meeting with officials from the Alabama Department of Public Health had to be rescheduled because of last week's snow storm.

“We are now expecting to meet with (state health officer) Dr. (Donald E.) Williamson on Jan. 24,” Salter said Thursday.

Salter did not offer specifics about the agenda for the meeting with Dr. Williamson. But Salter and the County Commission have been working with the state Health Department's legal staff for several weeks to draft an ordinance outlining enforcement procedures for a sewage-related law passed a decade ago.

That statute, written specifically for Weiss Lake, was passed by the Alabama Legislature in 2001 but has never been enforced by the county government or the Cherokee County Health Department. Late last summer, the Alabama attorney general ordered the two entities to begin working together and enforce the law.

Hughes said cooperation and organization are two important factors to consider if Weiss ever aspires to achieve Treasured Alabama Lake status.

“It will take a total buy-in from all the local stakeholders,” Hughes said.

Meanwhile, the local Chamber of Commerce is preparing for a summer celebration of Weiss Lake's golden anniversary. The 30,200-acre reservoir was built by Alabama Power Company and began operation on June 1, 1961.

Weiss Lake is named for Fernand C. Weiss, a Texas native and electrical engineer who worked most of his career designing dams and power plants for Alabama Power.

Weiss never saw his namesake lake completed. He died in 1959 at age 66. He is buried in Birmingham.