The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been keeping a big federal reservoir on the Chattahoochee River relatively full while Florida has been receiving minimum flows downstream on the Apalachicola River, according to a former Florida state official.
Gov. Rick Scott on Sept. 6 requested a fishery disaster declaration from federal officials. The governor says an ongoing drought and over-harvesting of undersized oysters has left few oysters in Apalachicola Bay, with 2,500 seafood worker jobs in Franklin County at risk.
Former Northwest Florida Water Management District Executive Director Douglas Barr points to Army Corps of Engineers operating procedures that hold back water in reservoirs.
Likewise, the Los Angeles Times on Monday reported that unlike the drought four years ago, Georgia officials are acting like the drought now doesn't exist -- and they are not ordering significant conservation measures.
Barr said the Apalachicola River has been at or below a near-minimum flow 52 percent of days since May 2011. Since 1928, that low flow occurred only 2.6 percent of the time.
At the same time, the big Lake Lanier reservoir on the Chattahoochee River was on average 81 percent of full capacity and has not dropped below 70 percent this year. The Army Corps of Engineers can continue to restrict flows to Florida under its operating procedures while the reservoirs are being refilled, Barr said.
"The current situation clearly illustrates the problems with the (Corps of Engineers) interim operating procedures," Barr wrote in the email to Apalachicola Riverkeeper. "Releases to Apalachicola River are limited ... while simultaneously all demands in Georgia are met and reservoir storage is preserved."
A Corps spokesman in Mobile, Ala. responded Monday that the federal agency is using water from reservoirs to prevent Apalachicola water flow from declining even more. He also said the storage of all reservoirs on the Chattahoochee River is down more than 40 percent.
"In drought operations, we use storage to balance both current and future requirements," wrote Pat Robbins, chief of legislative and public affairs at the Corps' district office. "One never knows how long the drought may last and how long flow augmentation may be required."
Apalachicola Riverkeeper has asked Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal to enact water-use restrictions. The group also is asking the Corps of Engineers to release more water as reservoirs rise rather than waiting for them to refill, said Dan Tonsmeire, the group's executive director.
"The people that are managing and using water upstream are affecting the conditions in the bay," Tonsmeire said. "And we need them to help us out."
Jud Turner, director of Georgia's Environmental Protection Division, said his state's residents are using less water as a result of midday watering restrictions and stricter local regulations that are allowed under a 2010 state law.
"We really think we are seeing changes in behavior -- habit changes," Turner said. "When people aren't out there watering like that, you want to encourage that and not punish them unnecessarily."
Reporter Bruce Ritchie can be reached at britchie@thefloridacurrent.com.