Water supply reservoirs in Georgia: an update on Henry County’s proposed Tussahaw Creek Reservoir and the importance of thorough environmental impacts analyses

Proceedings of the 2003 Georgia Water Resources Conference, held April 23-24, 2003, at the University of Georgia.Due to potential and perceived water shortages from the combination of explosive population growth, drought, and the desire for extensive future economic development, many local governments in northern Georgia want to build large water supply reservoirs by damming rivers, flooding wetlands, and often pumping water from nearby larger rivers. The piecemeal approach to permitting these reservoirs to date has resulted in no comprehensive environmental study of the direct, secondary, and cumulative impacts of this activity. However, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently recognized their responsibility under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act to perform this analysis and suspended the permit that they issued to the Henry County Water & Sewerage Authority for the proposed Tussahaw Creek Reservoir. This action hopefully introduces a shift in permitting behavior to comply with national environmental laws and to better protect the public interest