The Jackson County Board of Commissioners met behind closed doors with the county water authority for one hour Monday morning before voting to file a lawsuit against the Upper Oconee Basin Authority over the county’s share of the Bear Creek reservoir.
The BOC voted for the law firm of Balch and Bingham to file the lawsuit to “verify and establish the county’s share of the reservoir.” Bruce Yates made the motion and commissioner Dwain Smith and chairman Pat Bell voted in favor of it. Commissioners Jody Thompson and Tom Crow were not at the meeting.
Bear Creek Reservoir
Jackson County files lawsuit against basin authority
Jackson County officials have been at odds with the Upper Oconee Basin Authority over how much water each of the four county partners can use each day. Jackson County has asked that the regional authority hire a third party acceptable to it and Jackson County to conduct another analysis of the yield. The basin authority voted to deny that request.
In the lawsuit, Jackson County claims that the basin authority has “allowed at least one of the parties to the intergovernmental agreement to exceed its rights under the agreement by consuming an improper excess of water from the Bear Creek Reservoir” and “refused to fulfill its own obligations under the intergovernmental agreement by refusing to recalculate the established yield of the Bear Creek Reservoir.”
“Jackson County is currently being forced by the basin authority to subsidize the water consumption of other member counties, specifically Athens-Clarke County, by the basin authority’s refusal to recalculate the established yield to conform with the actual language of the intergovernmental agreement,” the lawsuit reads. “Jackson County is uncertain of its future rights because it does not know how much of its entitlement share from the Bear Creek Reservoir it can consume. The plaintiff is also unsure of how to plan for future developments in Jackson County without a determination by the court as to the actual capacity of the Bear Creek Reservoir.”
The reservoir serves Athens-Clarke County, Barrow County, Oconee County and Jackson County. In 1996, the four counties entered into the intergovernmental agreement to “design, construct and maintain” the reservoir, which serves as a source of water pumped from the Middle Oconee River.
In the lawsuit, Jackson County claims that the basin authority has “allowed at least one of the parties to the intergovernmental agreement to exceed its rights under the agreement by consuming an improper excess of water from the Bear Creek Reservoir” and “refused to fulfill its own obligations under the intergovernmental agreement by refusing to recalculate the established yield of the Bear Creek Reservoir.”
“Jackson County is currently being forced by the basin authority to subsidize the water consumption of other member counties, specifically Athens-Clarke County, by the basin authority’s refusal to recalculate the established yield to conform with the actual language of the intergovernmental agreement,” the lawsuit reads. “Jackson County is uncertain of its future rights because it does not know how much of its entitlement share from the Bear Creek Reservoir it can consume. The plaintiff is also unsure of how to plan for future developments in Jackson County without a determination by the court as to the actual capacity of the Bear Creek Reservoir.”
The reservoir serves Athens-Clarke County, Barrow County, Oconee County and Jackson County. In 1996, the four counties entered into the intergovernmental agreement to “design, construct and maintain” the reservoir, which serves as a source of water pumped from the Middle Oconee River.
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