Corps Reverses Course on Irrigation Ban

9th District U.S. Representative Doug Collins said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reversing course on a controversial policy change.

Collins announced Wednesday that he has been told that the Corps would suspend implementation of a previous policy decision that would have prohibited property owners from withdrawing water from Lake Hartwell for irrigation.

According to Collins, the Corps will now suspend implementation of changes to irrigation policy and has committed to instituting a public comment period prior to implementing additional policy changes.

Collins called it a win for property owners across Northeast Georgia.

This comes after Collins and the Corps met with some Lake Hartwell property owners in recent days.

Hundreds packed the Adult Learning Center of the Hart County Library Monday night for the meeting of the Hart County Property Owners Association to hear from Collins as well as representatives from U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson’s office and U.S. Senator David Perdue’s office.

Association member Mike Buckle said the water in Hartwell belongs to the people, not the Corps and he says shoreline property owners have a contract that the Corps is breaking.

“Like the cities, counties and water districts we have a contract with the Corps and we pay for that in our permits to buy water and irrigate our lawns,” Buckle said. “If the Corps can arbitrarily cancel our contracts, what keeps them from canceling the contracts for the county, the cities and the water districts that are on the lake?”

Also speaking Monday night was George Bramlett, Hartwell Lake Project Office Manager and his assistant, Sandy Campbell.

Bramlett told the crowd the initial decision to ban irrigation came from the top brass at the Pentagon and from Congress.

Also, Sandy Campbell blamed the Tri-State water wars as being responsible for the new ban.

But Representative Collins, who started the Corps of Engineers Caucus to deal with Corps lake issues across the country, called that reasoning ludicrous.

“You cannot blame this on the water wars between Georgia, Florida and Alabama,” Collins said. “If it is, then why didn’t they figure this out 25 ago because that’s when the first (water wars) lawsuit was filed. It took 25 years? Really? And the lawsuits, by the way not solved.”

He said the Corps never contacted any member of Congress to let them know of their decision to ban irrigation.

“No public hearing, no notification of Congress, no active input,” Collins said. “Maybe it’s because they (Corps of Engineers) didn’t want to realize they were breaking the law for 50 years. Then, with the excuse I got tonight that it’s the tri-state water wars…where has the (Corps) legal department been for the last 25 years?”

Collins called on the Corps to be more transparent in their decision making.

(MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia contributed to this report)