The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Mobile District has officially released the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the updated Master Water Control Manual, Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin

December 2016 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Mobile District has officially released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the updated Master Water Control Manual, Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin, Alabama, Florida, Georgia (Master Manual) including a water supply storage assessment (WSSA) addressing reallocation of storage in Lake Sidney Lanier (Lake Lanier) with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Methods to obtain a copy of the Final EIS are detailed in this newsletter. The Master Manual includes appendices prepared for individual projects in the ACF Basin and is the guide used by USACE to operate five reservoir projects on the Chattahoochee River (Buford Dam and Lake Lanier; West Point Dam and Lake; Walter F. George Lock, Dam, and Lake; George W. Andrews Lock, Dam, and Lake; and Jim Woodruff Lock and Dam and Lake Seminole). The purpose and need for the federal action is to determine how federal projects in the ACF Basin should be operated for their authorized purposes, in light of current conditions and applicable law, and to implement those operations through updated water control plans and manuals. The proposed action will result in an updated Master Manual and individual project water control manuals (WCMs) that comply with existing USACE regulations and reflect operations under existing congressional authorizations, taking into account changes in basin hydrology and demands from years of growth and development, new/rehabilitated structural features, legal developments, and environmental issues. The Final EIS responds to and incorporates agency and public comments received on the Draft EIS; was updated to incorporate additional information provided by the State of Georgia in 2015 regarding (1) future water supply needs for communities withdrawing or expected to withdraw from Lake Lanier, (2) future water supply needs for communities withdrawing from the Chattahoochee River downstream of Buford Dam, and (3) expected return rates associated with lake and river withdrawals; and eliminated Glades Reservoir as a reasonably foreseeable source of future water supply because the Georgia Environmental Protection Division rescinded the need certification for the reservoir in early 2016. The Draft EIS was available for public review from October 2015 through January 2016. Five public meetings were held on October 26 through November 9, 2015. More than 300 people attended these workshops, either representing various agencies and organizations or as interested individuals. Two hundred seventy comments and thousands of petitions on the Draft EIS were submitted by agencies (federal, state, and local), private organizations, and individuals.

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Get a Copy The Final EIS and appendices are available in the following formats: Online as PDF documents:  Click here As a CD when requested in writing to: Commander, USACE Mobile District Attn: PD-EI (ACF-EIS) PO Box 2288 Mobile, AL 36628	Specific Questions May Be Directed To: Mr. Brian Zettle, Mobile District Environmental and Resources Branch, Planning and Environmental Division U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District P.O. Box 2288 Mobile, AL 36628-0001 Telephone: (251) 690-2115 Fax: (251) 694-3815 Email: brian.a.zettle@usace.army.mil

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