Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Board Asking Corps Of Engineers For Permit Extension For Apalachee River Intake Facility

The Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board last week agreed to ask the United States Corp of Engineers for a permit extension for construction of an intake facility on the Apalachee River at High Shoals.

The Board had voted at its previous meeting in May to go forward with construction of the intake facility, which could be used to expand at some point in the future the capacity of the reservoir now filling in southeast Walton County.

Neither Walton County nor Oconee County, partners in the reservoir project, needs water from the reservoir, but the Board moved forward on construction of the intake facility out of concern that the Corps would not grant an extension of the permit to withdraw water from the Apalachee River.

Project Manager Jimmy Parker told the Board last week that he now believes the Corps will grant the extension to address concerns about the impact of the intake facility on the High Shoals Historic District.

In other action last week, the Board awarded three contracts for construction of the recreational facility planned for the reservoir, keeping on schedule for the expected January 2018 opening of the lake for limited recreational use.

For details of this story and for video of the meeting of the Management Board, go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: Reservoir in Walton County.