by:  Matt Campbell, President  Lake Watch
 Appeared in October 2024 issue of Lake Magazine

Thank you, Lake Watch members and volunteer monitors! Lake Watch monitors put in a great amount of time providing water quality testing at sites across Lake Martin. Results of our bacteriological testing are posted to the Lake Watch Swim Alert web page (Lakewatch.org/swim-alert) and to the Alabama Water Watch statewide database (aaes.auburn.edu/alabamawaterwatch). Our testing this 2024 swim season confirms excellent water quality throughout the area of Lake Martin, as befits our “Treasured Alabama Lake.” 

Update on Alabama Department of Environmental Management Total Maximum Daily Loads process

ADEM welcomes participation by the citizens and local entities. Now is the time to act. 

ADEM has announced the development of total maximum daily loads for the upper Tallapoosa River and for Emuckfaw Creek in Tallapoosa and Clay counties and for High Pine Creek in Chambers and Randolph counties. These tributaries of the Tallapoosa River are above Lake Martin. So, they contribute to water quality in the lake. The State of Alabama has identified these streams as impaired from pathogens. The apparent sources of impairment are waste disposal, animal feeding operations (AFO/CAFOs) from the poultry industry and pasture grazing. Water quality monitoring tends to show a pattern of E. coli levels above ADEM limits, particularly after rain events, which cause muddy sediment erosion and waste runoff to flow into the streams and the Tallapoosa River. 

This TMDL process presents an important opportunity for clean water advocates to participate in improving water quality in the Tallapoosa watershed. Citizen stakeholders in our Tallapoosa communities should send written comments to ADEM to stress their support for clean water work in the Tallapoosa River and its tributary streams and to offer their suggestions on improving best management practices in our local communities. Contact Kimberly Minton, Water Division, Alabama Department of Environmental Management, at 334-271-7826 or email her at 

kminton@adem.alabama.gov.

Alabama Power Company has filed its “Updated Shoreline Management Plan” for Lake Martin

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission set the deadline of September 26, 2024, for citizen comments. 

Last year, a great number of Lake Martin area citizens attended a public forum hosted by Alabama Power Company at the Betty Carol Graham Center to discuss the update of the APC SMP. APC has filed this update SMP document with FERC. The update SMP proposes in part to expand the residential permitting process, and to increase the period between updates from six to 10 years. As of the date of publication of this current issue of Lake magazine, the stated deadline for filing a comment will have passed. Still, citizens advocacy is invited on this SMP for Lake Martin. The FERC notice, the update SMP document and directions for filing a comment may be viewed on the FERC website at ferc.gov.  

Matt Campbell is president of Lake Watch of Lake Martin, Inc., a 501(c)(3) environmental organization working to protect the clean water of Lake Martin and the Tallapoosa watershed through water quality testing, public advocacy and environmental education. Visit the website at info@lakewatch.org.