The Oglethorpe County Board of Commissioners has unanimously supported a nomination to designate the South Fork of the Broad River for recreational use in order to improve water quality.
The area is designated for fishing purposes, which according to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD), requires a lower water standard for temperature, pH balance and bacteria count than that of recreation.
The area is home to the Watson Mill Bridge State Park, which hundreds of people visit weekly to swim, fish, hike and kayak.
“We’ve actually been monitoring the water quality at Watson Mill Bridge State Park and taking samples out of the river for about two years now,” said Ruth Ann Tesanovich, the team leader of the Madison-Oglethorpe Stream Team (MOST). “According to our data, it's already meeting some of the water quality criteria that the state recommends for the designated use of recreation.”
While the goal of the designation is to ensure visitors have a safe, clean place to visit, designating the area for recreational purposes would also lead to changes.
“Down the road, 15 years from now, when someone wants to put an industrial facility or a sewage treatment plant upstream from Watson Mill (Bridge) State Park. They will have water below them that human beings can ingest,” said MOST team member John Robertson, who lives in Smithonia.
With the support from officials and residents, the county will await a ruling from the state’s Environmental Protection Division as to whether or not the area’s usage can be elevated from fishing to recreational use.
Timetables for this remain uncertain. For more information regarding water quality requirements, visit edp.georgia.gov.