Reservoir Board Purchases Property For Intake On Apalachee River

The Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board last week agreed to purchase 3.48 acres on the Apalachee River at High Shoals for an intake facility and pump station for future expansion of the reservoir in southeastern Walton County.

The Walton County Water and Sewer Authority, meeting with the Management Board, also approved the $1.3 million purchase agreement with Victoria Bracewell Presley that includes both temporary and permanent easements at the site as well as water rights.

According to the agreement, Presley would surrender her existing federal license to operate a hydroelectric facility on the Apalachee downriver from the 3.48 acres, give up her water diversion permits from the state of Georgia, and decommission operation of the facility.

In approving the purchase agreement, the Management Board and the Water and Sewer Authority are returning to the site for the intake facility and pump station listed in the existing water withdrawal permit the Authority holds with the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

The Management Board and Water and Sewer Authority earlier this year had asked the Corps to modify its permit to allow it to move to an alternate site in Morgan County when it could not come to terms with Presley but returned to the Presley property because of opposition in Morgan and Oconee counties.

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

Pictured: Diagram of properties and easements.