Significant work taken place on water project recently

Posted: Wednesday, November 27, 2013 12:00 am | Updated: 4:37 pm, Wed Nov 27, 2013.

By Robbie Schwartz | 0 comments

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

By Robbie Schwartz

http://waltontribune.com 

WALTON COUNTY — Blue ribbons tied to trees scattered throughout wooded areas show where the water will pool.

Construction vehicles are busy churning up red clay on either side of what is now a small creek, resting about 110 feet below the two embankments. The first of three cranes rests surrounded by raw materials awaiting help as well as the three 150-foot spans of concrete that will serve as the most time consuming of the construction projects in realigning Social Circle-Fairplay Road.

A pine tree rests about where the water intake structure will be.

And where a bridge on Browning Shoals Road crosses Hard Labor Creek, on one side rests shoals and about a half-mile upstream, where water steadily flows over rocks and meanders through woods, construction is set to begin on a reservoir.

by Blake Giles

Published: Thursday, August 2, 2012 4:37 PM EDT

The state approved two 40-year loans for the construction of the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir.

The loans to Oconee and Walton counties total $32 million and are part of $90.5 million in loans awarded Wednesday by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority and Georgia Department of Community Affairs.

Posted: Sunday, May 13, 2012 12:00 am

By Robbie Schwartz | 0 comments

http://waltontribune.com/news/article

The Hard Labor Creek Reservoir was among a dozen water projects that met a deadline for a piece of $120 million in state funding to be doled out this summer but is the only one of four proposed reservoir projects with permit in hand.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Gov.Nathan Deal said Monday it is time for the state to push ahead on the long road toward developing new sources of drinking water. But he said it must be local governments, not the state, taking the lead.

Phil Skinner This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Gov. Nathan Deal said water projects should spring from the needs of local communities, but he said there is plenty of room for the state to help them along.

“I do not want us to get into the business of being the water czars of the state,” he said.

Georgia, which has been locked in a legal dispute with its neighbors over the rights to water sources decades, must find a solution to provide drinking water for a steadily growing population.

Posted: Walton Tribune, Sunday, March 6, 2011 12:00 am

By Robbie Schwartz WaltonTribune.com

Permit for reservoir expected within 30 days, officials said

MONROE — County officials indicated last week they expect to have final approval for the dam site for the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir in the coming weeks.

At the center in the delay in permitting was the amount of water that will be retained or absorbed by the soil and how much water will run off for a given storm event. Project officials utilized state standards but the Georgia Environmental Protection Division recommended its own set of standards for such measurements respective to the dam’s classification.

Posted: Wednesday,January 27, 2010

By Robbie Schwartz (WaltonTribune.com)

With the construction season quicklyapproaching, January's meeting of the Hard Labor Creek Management Board focusedon getting final pieces in place to start moving dirt on various projectsassociated with the more than $350 million project.

The meeting started by highlightingthe fact 48 percent of the total land required for the project has beenacquired using only 31 percent of the budget set aside for land acquisition. Anadditional 11 percent of land needed is under negotiation.

Much of the meeting was spentconsidering final bridge recommendations for the relocation of SocialCircle-Fairplay Road. Three bridge proposals were developed in September 2009but at the time it was determined a comprehensive geotechnical study was neededto determine the subsurface conditions at the proposed bridge site. Concernsraised at the initial meeting included slope stability, settlement and waitingperiods.

At the meeting last week, boardmembers - including officials from Walton and Oconee counties, who are partnersin the reservoir - were presented the findings of the study by Clough Harbourand Associates as well as their recommendation.

Posted: Sunday, February 20, 2011

By Brian Arrington WaltonTribune.com

The Hard Labor Creek Management Board will look to use a portion of Gov. Nathan Deal’s $300 million reservoir project cache to move the HLC Reservoir project forward.

Precision Planning Vice President Jimmy Parker, the project’s engineer, said the announcement of Deal’s plan to secure water for the state could benefit the HLC Reservoir project and recommended the board pursue funding.

“The local leadership in Walton and Oconee (counties) are preparing a formal request to the state, to solicit grant funding in the amount of $32 million over three years to facilitate the completion of the reservoir,” Parker said in an e-mail. “Both Walton and Oconee remain firm in their position that the award or acceptance of any such grant funding must be closely evaluated to ensure that the two counties retain full control and ownership of the Hard Labor Creek Project.”

“I think we are in a good position to ask for money,” said Jim Luke, Oconee County commissioner and vice chairman of the board.

If secured, the funds ensure Walton and Oconee would provide an answer to the state’s water woes, taking pressure off the state which is currently embroiled in a water war with Alabama and Florida.

Posted: Sunday, December 26, 2010 .

By Robbie Schwartz WaltonTribune.com

In a year when the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir went from breaking ground to becoming a “shovel ready” project, any glimmer of hope is welcome.

That small glimmer came recently when, in his first major speech to state lawmakers, Gov.-elect Nathan Deal called for legislative action to help build reservoirs in the state when the new session begins Jan. 10.

Despite a potential $2 billion budget shortfall, Deal said he will ask for the budget to include borrowing for new reservoirs and the state should not wait for a water sharing agreement with Florida and Alabama related to the tri-state water wars.

This is good news for the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir, which has acquired more than 50 percent of the land needed for the project, has done most of its engineering studies with dam and water intake facility designs in hand and, more importantly, coveted permitting from the U.S. Corps of Engineers.

“I am excited that Gov.-elect Deal sees the critical need in Georgia for reservoirs,” said Walton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Kevin Little. “This should be good for the Hard Labor Creek project because there is no other reservoir as far along with the permitting, land purchases or just all aspects.

Officials meet with local reps

Posted: Wednesday, January 26, 2011

By Robbie Schwartz WaltonTribune.com

Hard Labor Creek Reservoir officials began meeting with members of their local delegation last week to start hammering out a plan to try and secure funding Gov. Nathan Deal has promised for reservoirs.

The governor has set aside $46 million in bonds in his proposed budget to push for new regional reservoirs.

“This was the first time I sat down and got the overarching scope of this project,” said Walton County’s freshman state Rep. Bruce Williamson, R-Monroe, after last Friday’s meeting. “But as I continue to grasp the implications of this project, I will work toward positioning Walton County’s interests through the legislative process and appeal to the governor to give this project some of the monies promised for reservoirs.