Hundreds attend Lake Hartwell meeting

Property owners at Lake Hartwell may be a little more hopeful today after hearing from Georgia U.S. Congressman Doug Collins last night on the Corps of Engineers’ plan to ban permits allowing them to use lake water to irrigate their lawns and gardens. WLHR of Lavonia reported hundreds packed the Hart County Library for the meeting of the Hart County Property Owners Association to hear Collins, as well as representatives from the U-S Senate offices of  Johnny Isakson and David Perdue. 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.  George Bramlett, Hartwell Lake Project Office Manager, told the crowd the decision to ban irrigation came from the top brass at the Pentagon and from Congress who ruled some 50 years ago the reservoirs lake water could only be used for certain purposes and private property irrigation was not one of them. Bramlett assistant Sandy Campbell blamed the Tri-State water wars as being responsible for the new ban. But Collins, who started the Corps of Engineers Caucus to deal with Corps lake issues across the country, called that reasoning ludicrous. And he said the Corps never contacted any member of Congress to let them know of their decision to ban irrigation. He called on the Corps to be more transparent in their decision making. Frank Redman of Senator Isakson’s office said the senator will be looking into the matter and said the Senator is looking into whether existing property owners with irrigation permits can be grandfathered in.