Maybe Talking to Them Will Help

County Commissioners plan to sit down with high ranking officials from the Army Corps of Engineers next month to voice their opposition to the Corps plans to cut water flows into the Apalachicola River. Under the plan, the Corps of Engineers will cut the amount of water flowing into the Apalachicola River while they refill a number of reservoirs on the river system, including Lake Lanier, West Point, and Walter F. George. On ongoing drought across the southeast has lowered water levels in those reservoirs which are used for drinking water for the city of Atlanta and other towns along the Chattahoochee and Flint River System. The Corps says the flows into the Apalachicola River will not drop below 5000 cubic feet per second unless serious drought conditions are in effect, in which case they could decrease water flows to 4500 cubic feet per second. That system could continue for the next 5 years, which some say could be a death sentence for the Apalachicola Bay. County Commissioners are opposing the plan, and will have a breakfast meeting with Corps of Engineer officials in July to voice their opposition in person. Commissioner Smokey Parish said the federal reservoirs should be managed in the best interest of all people on the river, not just those in Atlanta. Commissioner Bevin Putnal said the last time the corps cut water flows into the river system for an extended period of time there was a flood of saltwater species that moved into the Bay and damaged the oyster beds. He said that was also the last time that the Bay had a major outbreak of Red Tide. Commissioners also plan to attend a meeting hosted by Congressman Alan Boyd in Chattahoochee in July where they will also speak out against the plan.