The Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority, the four-county group that owns and operates the Bear Creek Reservoir, is again making noise about the need to plan water resources for the future.
Nothing against planning for the future — the Bear Creek Reservoir exists because local officials did just that. But before the four counties embark on another project, let’s resolve the crucial lingering issue of the current reservoir.
Which is, just how much water does it hold?
It’s the issue over which Jackson County has sued the authority. Assuming there is any reason to believe Jackson County’s position has validity, the authority’s top priority should be to seek an unbiased, qualified opinion as to the lake’s capacity. It is absolutely critical to know whether, in time of an extended drought, the reservoir can provide 58 million gallons a day (mgd) as historically assumed, or 24 mgd as Jackson County alleges. That’s a HUGE difference.
Granted, if Jackson County is correct, it’s an uncomfortable truth. It essentially means that the member counties’ cost for water is more than double what they’ve believed and what they convinced the public to finance. Jackson’s numbers — or anything approaching them — would also totally destroy all of the financial assumptions relating to members’ plans to sell water to other groups. In some cases, Barrow County for example, it would mean having signed contracts on which a county cannot deliver.
Whatever the lake’s capacity, all four counties need to have accurate data. Jackson County has credible evidence that the data currently being used is off, way off.
And while it is prudent to understand future water needs, based on projections of population growth and per capita consumption, the foremost piece of information the four counties need is accurate data about the resources they already have. The possibility that the reservoir has half the capacity advertised is the elephant in the room when it comes to planning for future water needs.
Is the capacity 24 mgd or 58, or somewhere in between? Discovering the true capacity of the Bear Creek Reservoir should be the Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority’s first priority. Once that’s resolved, we can talk about the possibility of some future new joint venture on another reservoir.
