Hartwell Coalition Seeks Funds for Drought Study

HARTWELL, GA -- A group made up of six counties surrounding Lake Hartwell is trying to raise funds for a drought impact study.

The Lake Hartwell Coalition, which includes Hart, Franklin, and Stephens counties on the Georgia side and Oconee, Pickens, and Anderson counties on the South Carolina side, wants to quantify the financial impact on lake side communities and businesses when the lake falls below full pool.

They hope the information will force the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to refrain from severely lowering lake levels during a drought.

“We’re not trying to stop their activity or stop flow from going down stream,” explained Coalition co-chair Tom Coley, a commercial real estate broker from Atlanta who owns a home in the “Gumlog” community on the Georgia side. “What we’re saying is that there are times where you could generate power that’s connected to rainfall. And to just continue to draw that lake down in times of drought for power generation; we’re saying there may be a better way to look at that,” he concluded.

Currently, Lake Hartwell is only one of two Georgia lakes maintained by the Corps that is still not at full pool. Lake Lanier is the other. Lake Hartwell is 10 feet below full pool, which is 652 cfs, and has remained at that level since last summer.

As a result, tourism and home sales around the lake have dropped significantly on both the Georgia and South Carolina sides and some smaller businesses who make their living on tourism the lake generates have had to close, Coley said.

An independent company contracted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District or the University of Georgia would do the study in two phases at a cost of $200,000 per phase, according to Coley.

He said the Corps has agreed to provide matching funds if surrounding counties can come up with half.

Coley and co-chair Burris Nelson from Anderson, SC have been meeting with county and municipal governments in the six-county area asking them to kick in funds based on how much shoreline their county borders.

So far, four of the six counties surrounding Lake Hartwell have agreed to help fund the study. Franklin and Stephens Counties plan to hold work sessions to discuss the matter further.

Results of the study are expected in mid-2009.