Apalachee River Intake Makes Georgia's Dirty Dozen List

The Georgia Water Coalition Tuesday named the planned withdrawal of water from the Apalachee River for an expanded Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir to its 2018 Georgia’s Dirty Dozen list.

The Coalition labeled the proposed Apalachee River water intake “an exercise in overbuilding” and called on the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to turn down the current requests for the intake.

The Georgia Water Coalition’s Dirty Dozen report does not list the most polluted places in Georgia but rather highlights the “politics, policies and issues that threaten the health of Georgia’s water and the well-being of 10 million Georgians,” the news release issued Tuesday states.

Included on the list in addition to the Apalachee River intake are a chemical spill in March in Dawson county north of Atlanta that killed federally protected Cherokee darters and other fish, Gov. Nathan Deal’s silence on proposed offshore oil drilling, and threats to state rivers from coal ash ponds.

The Georgia Water Coalition is an alliance of more than 200 organizations, including the Greater Apalachee River Community, a group of Oconee County and Morgan County residents that organized this year to represent the interests of the Apalachee River.

The Water Coalition released its 2018 Dirty Dozen List in a tele-press conference at 10 a.m. Tuesday. A representative of the Greater Apalachee River Community was a participant in the tele-press conference.

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

Pictured: Graphic from the Coalition report.