Morgan County Intake Site On Apalachee River Not Being Considered

The Walton County Water and Sewer Authority has informed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that it is no longer considering a Morgan County site for a possible Apalachee River intake facility for the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir.

The Authority asked the Corps to go ahead with consideration of its request for a permit extension for the intake facility and assume that the Authority would be successful in its efforts to purchase the original site for the intake on the river in Walton County.

Project Manager Jimmy Parker said today (Thursday) that negotiation of a Land Purchase Agreement currently is underway for a property in Walton County, though he would not say whether that was for the original site or yet another site upstream.

The letter from the Water and Sewer Authority to the Corps of Engineers stating that the Morgan County site was no longer being considered came after the Corps forwarded to the Authority a five-page letter asking for clarification of 22 issues.

These 22 issues were raised in 58 comments received by the Corps following its public notice on the Authority’s request to modify its permit to allow for the Morgan County site and to extend the permit deadline by two years.

The Corps also received a petition for a public hearing on the permit modification signed by 137 individuals.

For more details on this story, go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: Jimmy Parker and Kevin Little.