Hard Labor Creek Management Board Approves New Monitoring Station

The Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Management Board last week voted to approve the installation and maintenance of a flow monitoring station on the Apalachee River at Snows Mill Road, responding to a requirement of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

The new monitoring station will be a companion to the already existing station of the U.S. Geological Survey at Price Mill Road and will provided data on the impact of the water intake facility planned for the Apalachee River at High Shoals just upstream from the SR 186 bridge.

The planned intake facility will be used to provide additional water to the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir at some point in the future when water demand exceeds the natural stream flow of Hard Labor Creek. At present, no water is being withdrawn from the reservoir.

Jimmy Parker, project manager for the reservoir, attributed the EPD requirement for the new monitoring station to pressure exerted by citizens during the review process for renewal of the permit to withdraw from the Apalachee River.

The EPD has provided a draft permit for that withdrawal, minus specific withdrawal amounts, and Parker said he expects a final document by early summer.

The Walton County Water and Sewer Authority, which holds the water withdrawal permit, also approved the installation and maintenance of the flow monitoring station at the joint meeting of the Management Board and Water and Sewer Authority last week.

For more on the story, with a video of the Management Board and Water and Sewer Authority meeting, please go to Oconee County Observations.