A consultant leading a study to update the operating manual for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin plans to give an update on his work at a public forum Wednesday.
Jerry Barnes, special assistant and director of the Southeast Water Manual Update for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is set to speak at the event sponsored by the 1071 Coalition, a nonprofit group concerned with maintaining healthy water levels at Lake Lanier.
The corps hired Barnes to lead the study.
Area lake advocates have pushed hard for the update, as the current manual is 50 years old and the basin — particularly with Atlanta’s sprawling growth — has changed drastically over the years.
Barnes “has been in the area talking to lots of folks, but his job is ... to find out everything (about the basin),” said Kit Dunlap, vice chairwoman of the group.
He will give a progress report on the manual, then answer some questions, said Dunlap, who is also chief executive officer of the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce.
The forum is set to begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Lake Lanier Islands’ Legacy Lodge and Conference Center.
Georgia, Alabama and Florida are tangled in heavy litigation over the use of the lake. A federal judge is hearing all the cases in a Florida court and, according to officials, is expected to rule this year.
The group’s board of directors meets monthly, but Wednesday night’s event is its second “big public meeting,” Dunlap said.
“We want to keep the attention on Lake Lanier,” she said. “Everybody’s attention span goes away in a hurry when the lake gets to full (pool). We just want to keep that focus right there.”
Full pool is 1,071 feet above sea level. As of Tuesday, the lake was at 1,066.12.
Jerry Barnes, special assistant and director of the Southeast Water Manual Update for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is set to speak at the event sponsored by the 1071 Coalition, a nonprofit group concerned with maintaining healthy water levels at Lake Lanier.
The corps hired Barnes to lead the study.
Area lake advocates have pushed hard for the update, as the current manual is 50 years old and the basin — particularly with Atlanta’s sprawling growth — has changed drastically over the years.
Barnes “has been in the area talking to lots of folks, but his job is ... to find out everything (about the basin),” said Kit Dunlap, vice chairwoman of the group.
He will give a progress report on the manual, then answer some questions, said Dunlap, who is also chief executive officer of the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce.
The forum is set to begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Lake Lanier Islands’ Legacy Lodge and Conference Center.
Georgia, Alabama and Florida are tangled in heavy litigation over the use of the lake. A federal judge is hearing all the cases in a Florida court and, according to officials, is expected to rule this year.
The group’s board of directors meets monthly, but Wednesday night’s event is its second “big public meeting,” Dunlap said.
“We want to keep the attention on Lake Lanier,” she said. “Everybody’s attention span goes away in a hurry when the lake gets to full (pool). We just want to keep that focus right there.”
Full pool is 1,071 feet above sea level. As of Tuesday, the lake was at 1,066.12.