Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Our Own Impact on Our Own River The Middle Oconee Bears the Burden of the Drought E verybody in Athens keeps asking, "What's going to happen when we run out of water?" That's a good question, and a fair one. As has been noted in Flogpoie already this fait it's not an easy question to answer; some answers will be forthcoming, though, when the Athens- Clarke County (ACC) Commission holds a special work session on the topic Oct. 25. The "water question" is a way of asking what the doomsday scenario is, or what we'll do when we can no longer avoid the catastrophe. The sad part is that—as far as the Middle Oconee River is con cerned—the catastrophe may have already come. When Athens began its emergency water with drawals from the Middle Oconee, just as October began, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) stream gauge on that river at Atlanta Highway quit working. Mo surprise: those gauges—operated by USGS all over the country—are often finicky, especially in extreme conditions. By Thursday, Oct. 4, USGS sent someone out to check the gauge, clean the mud out of it, get it working again, and make an accurate mea surement. That measurement brought the bad news: The Middle Oconee River registered an all-time record low flow of only 1.4 fys. (A week later, after rising some, the flow dropped again to 2.6 f*/s.) "Cubic feet per second" [fys] doesn’t mean much to most people, but here's some context: the median daily flow for Oct. 4, over 73 years of record, is a bit shy of 200 f*/s. In other words, 200 f*/s would be a more normal flow in autumn, a dry time of year. By contrast, a flood in early March of this year saw a recorded flow of 3,000 fys. So a flow of 1.4 f 5 /s is next to nothing. For most of the last month, as you can see at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ ga/nwis/rt, the river's flow has varied in a range between 10 and 100 f*/s—still below the median of nearly 200, and most of the time below the 45 f*/s mark used as a threshold, at least at this time of year, for being able to withdraw from the river and also putting wastewater into it (which we are, all the time). Below a certain threshold, in other words, we don't withdraw water from the river, either to treat and use, or to replen ish the Bear Creek Reservoir in Jackson County. Bear Creek is a pump-storage reservoir, meaning it mostly consists of river water pumped into it. It was depleted very quickly in August and September of this year, because we were making heavy use of it at precisely the time when we couldn't be replenishing it with river water. Typically, it would carry us through such a stretch—that's what it was designed to do—but this year that dry stretch has been too long and too dry. Thus, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EDP) has allowed us to take up to 15 million gallons per day from the Middle Oconee for a period of 45 days. That's been a saving grace for Athens this fall, but its effect on the river cannot be ignored. Besides its nearly drying up completely, what has the effect on the Middle Oconee River been? The good news is that there have been no reported large scale fish kills like the one that hit the Morth Oconee River in early August. Generally, fish can find refuge in deeper pools for a little while, but with flows so low, it's hard to imagine that some fish haven't been stranded. Fortunately the level of dissolved oxygen (DO) has stayed at about six milligrams per liter (mg/l) or higher, even downstream of Athens' Middle Oconee wastewater treatment plant. If it were to drop below 5 mg/l, a die-off would be more likely, and EPD would make us stop with drawing water and then quickly figure out what to do next. That's because our wastewater is as important to this picture as our drinking water. The river needs to be able to assimilate the wastewater that we discharge into it. The Middle Oconee wastewater plant does a better job of treatment. and treats a smaller volume of wastewater, than its older counterpart (the one with the odor problems) on the North Oconee River, which is a good thing, because it betters the river's chances of avoiding a fish kill like the one on the North Oconee thi« summer. Perhaps ironically, that's also the reason that the emergency water with drawals are coming from the Middle Oconee, not the North Oconee. The North Oconee probably wouldn't be able to handle it. At the Middle Oconee wastewater plant, the wastewater has flowed at about 3.5 million gallons per day lately, according to ACC Public Utilities Director Gary Duck. (That's almost 5.5 f’/s). At very low river flows, the wastewater effluent has been a substantial portion of the river's flow. Stilt water quality, which is EPD's main concern, appears not to have been too damaged yet. though it may take time to learn what the effects on the river's living things has been. Water quantity in the river, on the other hand, has been sacrificed to our needs. The Bear Creek Reservoir has served us well in this year's drought, but the drought has out done it. In this regard, it's possible that Athens' experience in 2007 is especially relevant to the statewide water planning pro cess thaf s currently underway. Among the many concepts present m discussion of future water management in Georgia is the idea that North Georgia will need more reservoirs— more water storage capacity- in the future. Most reservoirs built these days are a lot like Bear Creek: they're "off-stream" reservoirs that are not built on rivers themselves ia good thing for rivers), but which use river water via pump-storage arrangements. But what does Bear Creek tell us about build ing more off-stream reservoirs? It may simply be true that if a drought is severe enough, reservoirs—no matter how many—can only do so much. Speaking of reservoirs, there's another one in Clarke County thaf s long been consid ered an emergency water source: Lake Chapman at Sandy Creek Park. Without even Sgures on how much water that small lake holds, it's hard to say what use it might be in the present situation. It is being looked at, though. Who knows? Maybe using Lake Chapman's water could prevent the kind of extreme low flows that have occurred on the Middle Oconee? If so, maybe it could come into play earlier the next time there's a drought this bad? Speaking of the statewide water plan, many Athens resi dents have noted that the water problem here is not just a lack- of-water problem, ifs also a growth problem. A lot of people across the state who've been observing the statewide water planning process have noted that it is all about growth, too. As the state water plan slouches toward January and the legislative session—when God only knows what will happen to it—ifs worth starting to ask what les sons have been learned by towns like Athens so far in the drought of 2007. Ifs worth remembering the Middle Oconee River, toe. The river's done a lot for us. Ben Emanuel The Georgia Water Council (www.georgiawatercouncil org) will hold a hearing to receive public input on a revised draft of the Comprehensive Statewide Water Management Plan at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Masters Hall on Thursday, Oct. 18 at 6 p m The Middle Oconee River at Ben Burton Park on Sunday, Oct 7,2007, at a very tow flow of about 15 fVs The Middle Oconee River at Ben Burton Park on May 12. 2006, at a relatively normal flow for that date of over 300 P/s. DOWNTOWN • 706-546-8826 urwm MetA»uf Mflrga*. VOTED ATHENS' BEST IEWELER .THE GEORGIA^* good place to drjgjM COOL PEOPLE HANG OUT HERE THE GEORGIA BAR 15911.Cl 1VI()\ SI. *706-546-9884 NEWS & FEATURES I ARTS & EVENTS I MOVIES I MUSIC I COMICS & ADVICE I CLASSIFIEDS OCTOBER 17,2007 • FlAGPOLE.COM 7