Projections For Water Needs Much Lower Than When Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Planned, Project Manager Says

Jimmy Parker, project manager of the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir now filling in Walton County, says current water needs for partners Walton and Oconee counties are much lower now than when the project was planned.

Parker told the reservoir’s Management Board at its meeting in January that there is a need for an update to those projections so the two counties know when they will need to build the water treatment plant and distribution lines.

The reservoir is at 730 acres of pool area, or a little more than half of the 1,370 acres of pool to be realized when the current phase of the reservoir is completed.

Parker said the two counties are looking at ways to defer construction of the plant, but discussion of a preliminary design is on the agenda for the Management Board when it meets at 1 p.m. on Tuesday at the government building in Walton County.

The agenda also includes discussion of planning for an Apalachee River intake facility, which, if plans are followed, will be used at some point in the future to greatly expand the size of the reservoir.

For more on the story, go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: Chuck Horton, alternate Management Board Member