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June 30, 2010

Duck River prep work under way

City begins environmental surveys, planning

By Trent Moore The Cullman Times

CULLMAN — Environmental survey teams were on site around Duck River earlier this month, completing required prep work before the City of Cullman can move forward with plans to create a secondary water reservoir in the watershed.

The city plans to build a dam on Duck River to create a 640-acre lake and a six-mile pipeline with a 32-million-gallon-per-day capacity. The reservoir would resemble the one at Lake Catoma, currently the area’s sole water source.

The project is estimated to cost approximately $70 million, and the city utility board has spent several thousands of dollars in recent months on prep work.

Representatives from city departments, engineering firm CH2MHill, the local soil and water conservation district, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and others participated in the lengthy environmental tests — which are required before the city can build the dam.

“We have been monitoring the water quality and doing biological monitoring,” Tim Scott, with the Cullman County Soil and Water Conservation District, said. “We found a lot of species, but very few anomalies.”

Duck River project manager Dale Greer elaborated that survey teams were especially looking for any potentially endangered animal life that might be living in the watershed.

“We basically have to do a physical test of what lives and breathes out there,” he said. “The findings were good for us, and they didn’t find any threatened or endangered species. There were no anomalies or unusual findings.”

Scott said he has received some concerns from residents in the 36.5-square-mile watershed — which extends from Highway 278 to the Tennessee River divide near the Morgan County line — about how environmental regulations could potentially change when the reservoir is built. Those concerns are unfounded, Scott said.

“Those EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and ADEM (Alabama Department of Environmental Management) rules have all been in effect for the past 10 years there anyway, so nothing will change,” he said. “I believe the city and utility board are doing this to help agriculture in this community, and are behind it 100 percent.”

City officials are currently waiting for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to update the project plan, which was first written around 1999. Over the past several years, the project has faced numerous delays due to environmental lawsuits, though those suits have since been settled.

Greer said his office is meeting with representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in mid-July to discuss the plan.

Every major wholesale city water customer, except for the Cullman County Commission, has already signed new contracts through the length of the Duck River plan. The Vinemont, Anon and West Point (VAW) Water Authority, Walter, East Cullman, Cullman water department and Johnson’s Crossing Water Authorities have all agreed to purchase water from the city until 2040.

Factoring in the customer base, approximately 53 percent of area water users are now signed on to Duck River.

The county commission’s position is currently in a state of flux, as associate county commissioners Doug Williams and Wayne Willingham — who have both supported different water source options — recently voted to establish a new water cooperative and water board that has been legally challenged by commission chairman James Graves and several citizens. The boards are currently under an injunction preventing them from taking any action.

The two water boards, and the county commission with the majority vote of Williams and Willingham, most recently filed an appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court in the case.

The supreme court has yet to consider the request.



* Trent Moore can be reached by e-mail at trentm@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 225.

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