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'Winter pool in Weiss by July 27,' warns Alabama Power By Scott Wright CENTRE — Alabama Power Co. engineers and analysts are concerned that if drought conditions across the southeast don't improve soon, the entire Coosa River system -- including Weiss Lake -- could be in serious trouble. In a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) dated June 11, Alabama Power System Operations Supervisor Charles M. Stover urged Col. Pete Taylor to increase water releases from two reservoirs in Georgia and reduce minimum flow requirements from the Coosa, warning that otherwise reservoirs along the system “will drop below winter pool levels by approximately July 27.” The 71-page letter was signed by Stover, who told The Post the time has come for action to avoid a serious water shortage. “We know the Coosa is limited in the amount of water that is available, so we've been holding back the water in Weiss as much as we can,” Stover said Wednesday. “But we're looking at a worst-case scenario where all the reservoirs on the river will end up below normal minimum levels to the point where some may be forced to do without.” Weiss Lake, located almost entirely in Cherokee County, dates to 1961 and is the furthest upstream of six man-made reservoirs built along the Coosa by Alabama Power. Flow reductions along the Coosa were first proposed in a letter to Col. Taylor from Alabama Power Vice President of Environmental Affairs Willard Bowers in May. Stover's follow-up letter was sent to Taylor after the ACOE declared a 10-day public response period. The June 11 letter contains charts, graphs, daily flow measurements, and historical data. The information indicates that, barring some as-yet unforeseen end to current “exceptional” drought conditions -- i.e., extensive, prolonged periods of rain -- a worst-case scenario that includes lakes reaching below-minimum levels and “the undermining of the company's entire power grid” could occur later this summer unless the ACOE grants Alabama Power some leeway at both ends of the Coosa. In response, the Corps of Engineers requested that Alabama Power supply reams of additional information, including hypothetical analyses of cumulative and long-term impacts of the requested actions, potential environmental impacts of temporarily reduced flows, and predictions of what would most likely occur if the Corps rejects the request. “Some of them are almost unanswerable,” Stover told The Post. He said it was impossible to predict how soon the Corps might act. ACOE spokeswoman Marilyn Phipps said the Corps will take no action to alter flows or reduce requirements until it receives written answers to the follow-up queries. “There are many considerations we must take into account before we act,” said Phipps. “Among those are environmental, economic, water supply and quality impacts” of altering navigation flows. On June 27, Bowers released a public statement detailing the company's efforts to deal with the unprecedented drought conditions. He also spoke of the intricacies involved in attempting to allocate a limited source of water that has already been the subject of a prolonged legal battle. “While we continue to seek relief which will balance the upstream and downstream interests, there are parties which want no increase in upstream releases -- such as the state of Georgia,” Bowers said in an email distributed to stakeholders. “Also, there are parties downstream who want no reduction in the minimum flow.” The Allatoona and Carters reservoirs, which lie in
northwest Georgia, supply drinking water to Atlanta and also feed the rivers
that meet in Rome, Ga. to form the Coosa. The reservoirs have been at the
center of a water war between Alabama and Georgia since the early 1990's. The letter warns that if Alabama Power is not allowed to reduce flow rates soon, water levels might fall too low to run power-generating turbines or supply towns and power plants that rely on the river system for their water supplies. Without a relaxing of the current flow rates, the letter states, “Alabama Power's Coosa River reservoirs would quickly be pulled down well below winter pool levels, threatening the stability and reliability of Alabama Power's electric generating system, as well as municipal and industrial water supply intake structures.” Currently, the minimum daily flow out of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers and into the Alabama River is 4,640 cubic feet per second (cfs). The minimum flow was established decades ago by the ACOE to ensure a navigable Alabama River channel. In a public notice released after Alabama Power's initial request to reduce flows, the Corps claimed that doing so could “reduce navigation channel depths on the Alabama River.” But Alabama Power argues in its June 11 letter that they are not solely responsible for ensuring a navigable river channel. “As the Corps is aware, the Alabama River channel has not been maintained for several years,” reads one footnote. “The Corps has a legal obligation to dredge the river and to make navigation support releases from Allatoona and Carters.” Alabama Power also alleges in the letter that the ACOE has ignored its own 1993 draft reservoir regulation manual by failing to release sufficient amounts of water from Allatoona and Carters reservoirs. “Based on our review of the hydropower generation records for Allatoona reservoir for May 2007, the Corps has not followed the guidelines contained in the draft manual,” the letter reads. But Phipps denied the ACOE has failed to follow its rules for water releases at the reservoirs. “The Corps of Engineers is currently following its water management plan,” she told The Post. Alabama Power spokesman Buddy Eiland played down the debate over where responsibility lies for maintaining the Alabama River and said he expects both sides will continue to work together and keep the “big picture” in mind, as they have done in the past. “There has to be an oversight and management plan that
works for the entire river system,” Eiland said. “We're currently releasing
more water because of required minimum flows than we currently have flowing
into our impoundments and we will work with the Corps of Engineers to reach
a solution.” The letter warns that reduced water flows in the Coosa have already resulted in an unacceptable increase of “retention time” for water in Weiss Lake, which could result in the reservoir exceeding acceptable nutrient loads outlined in 2004 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “The retention time in Weiss Lake so far this year is approximately twice as long as the worst-case conditions used in the Total Maximum Daily Load modeling,” the letter reads. “Unless flows are increased, this high retention time will likely result in high algae growth and deterioration of water quality in the reservoir.” According to Alabama Power, water typically moves from one end of Weiss Lake to the other in around 14 days. Because of the extended drought conditions and the lack of increased flows from the Georgia reservoirs, that process is currently taking around 46 days -- and could take even longer as the lake level drops in the coming weeks. The letter warns of the dangers to wildlife if the Corps does not lower the retention time by releasing more water from Allatoona and Carters. “Without increased inflows into Weiss Lake, extremely high eutrophication is likely, increasing the possibility of significant fish kills.” Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce Director Thereasa Hulgan said the lower water level will probably affect the county's summer tourist traffic and disrupt the fall fishing season. But she said she's even more worried about stumps and sand bars in the 30,000-acre reservoir. “A concern of mine is people from out of town who visit the lake for skiing and jet skiing,” she said. “They may not realize the hazards of the lower water.” Stover said it won't be long before residents of Cherokee County begin to realize just how severe this year's drought really is. Without more water coming in from Georgia or less leaving headed for the Gulf of Mexico -- and with no significant rainfall in sight -- Weiss will soon begin to drop precipitously, he said. “We're down about a foot-and-a-half now in Weiss, and we could see the water reach winter level around the end of July,” he said. “After we reach winter levels, if we don't get some kind of relief, we're going to see water levels that we've never seen before.” Stover said it's difficult to predict exactly how serious the water shortage could become for Weiss Lake because there hasn't been a drought this severe and persistent since the company began keeping records in the early 1900's. “We're in a realm that no one has ever seen before,” Stover said. For the latest on lake levels and Alabama Power’s efforts to manage through the drought, visit www.alabamapower.com and click on "drought." Information can also be obtained by calling Alabama Power's automated Reservoir Information System at 1-800-LAKES11 (1-800-525-3711). |