New Consensus Solution
Save the Middle Savannah (SMS) is proud to offer a "New Consensus Solution" to the prolonged, costly and consequential debate surrounding the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam and the imperative nature of its role in both protecting the pool of the Savannah River for the Cities or North Augusta and Augusta, and the many industries in the Augusta MSA which depend on a controllable pool, while also providing the only practical means of controlling water levels for flood control, and silt related accretion control, upstream. Likewise, this Solution, supported by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers own independent study (the Battelle Report), provides for the most cost effective alternative for resolving this critical issue that concurrently delivers the only practical means for the Atlantic Sturgeon to bypass the dam for the purposes of reuniting them with their historical spawning ground in the Augusta Shoals upstream (also a mitigation mandate that is required for the completion of the Savannah Harbor Deepening Project). SMS respectfully invites anyone with an interest in, or concern for, the Augusta pool and all of the collateral benefits of maintaining it to support the New Consensus Solution by endorsing the SMS Petition (outlined in detail in the PDF link below and supported by the Corps’ independent report in the PDF link below)
What's at stake?
The New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam, through its five remotely operated dam gates, provides critical functions for the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) – it creates a steady, controlled 10-mile long River Pool, and it routinely minimizes flood water levels during storm events.
The US Army Corps of Engineers was required by Congress to conduct essential repairs to the Lock and Dam. The Corps never performed the mandated repairs. The Lock and Dam remains in critical need of repair.
Through the Water Resources (WINN Act), passed by Congress in 2016, the NSBL&D was de-authorized and the Corp was provided discretionary authority to modify the fish passage feature of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, making it an in-stream passage, effectively replacing the dam with a permanent rock weir type structure - – a solution that will create new and significant risks to the CSRA communities
The Savannah Harbor Deepening Project has created a mandate to improve habitat for Short Nosed Sturgeon in the Augusta shoals, upstream from the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam (NSBL&D) and an alternative plan had been proposed and authorized to construct a fish bypass around the dam to allow the sturgeon to migrate upstream. This "shovel ready" plan is in place and can help facilitate the SHEP project faster and create sufficient mitigation for the sturgeon for millions less than the current proposal dictated by the WINN Act. However, this would require congress to "reauthorize" the dam to the extent that the Corp could proceed with necessary repairs to allow the critical pool and flood control functions of the dam to continue.
SAVE THE MIDDLE SAVANNAH is asking you to understand the importance of these issue and use this site to register your name and send a letter to the Corp and the Congress asking them reconsider the WINN Act alternative in replace of the alternative plan that will protect this historical resource for our community and provided necessary mitigation for the SHEP project.
What are the risks to our communities?
Replacement of the Lock and Dam with a rock weir would be potentially disastrous. According to the Corps’ own reports, the rock weir could...
Result in permanent loss of river navigation;
Create siltation and debris buildup, threatening water supplies, river users, wildlife habitat;
Cause temporary loss of the pool during weir construction;
Would result in a lowering of the pool to sufficient levels to prevent safe recreation such as water-skiing and would prohibit events on the river that are important to our local economy, such as drag boat and speed boat and speed boat races.
Impose an unknown, uncertain future for the CSRA; and
Might not even help the Atlantic Sturgeon. There is no supportive science that the sturgeon would use such a weir fish passage, as no comparable projects (including the Cape Fear River Project) have documented sturgeon using these structures. Science does exist which demonstrates that the ecology supporting the historic breeding grounds in the Augusta shoals have been permanently upset by colder water in the river (which is now fed from the bottom of the Clark’s Hill Dam) and that sufficient mitigation can be accomplished downstream from the NSBL&D
Cost as much as twice the cost of repairing the Lock and Dam and constructing a fish bypass;
Critically and permanently lower the lever of the River Pool, endangering water supplies, as well as devastating the recreational and business opportunities of the riverfront – such as the River Walk, Project Jackson, and boat and swim races, and loss of the millions in revenue these activities generate for the CSRA;
Create new and significant risks to CSRA communities including: loss of control of the pool during flood events (which are already affecting neighborhoods in North Augusta; the inevitability of siltation and debris that would be trapped behind a non movable structure; reallocation of FEMA floodplain and flood-way lines that would affect the insurability of properties and business along the river;
Magnify flood risks in storm events;
Repairing the Lock and Dam and constructing a modest fish bypass is the cost-effective, practical, workable and protective solution that serves all needs.
Riverfront Communities
Downtown Augusta & North Augusta
get involved
Unite with other CSRA stakeholders to support the Save the Middle Savannah River: promote the community's ability to control the pool via restoration of the historic Lock and Dam in conjunction with a fish bypass through legislative and local action.
Stand Now with Augusta – Join us in writing to the Corps by June 3rd
Further Information:
Community Support:
