AUGUSTA, GA - The Army Corps of Engineers has to head back to the drawing board now that a federal judge has put a stop to the plan to replace the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam with a rock weir.

Riverkeeper Tonya Bonitatibus agrees that the rock weir plan wasn’t the best option, saying it would have lowered the water level in Augusta and North Augusta. “They have to come up with another solution.”

The Army Corps of Engineers proposed the rock weir to help fish swim to an area where they can bread, and their habitat is being destroyed by the Savannah Harbor deepening project.

 “We need to figure out how to get these endangered fish beyond the city of Augusta,” says Bonitatibus.

The harbor is being deepened to make room for bigger trade ships to come to the area and the riverkeeper says in order for this project to continue, the Army Corps of Engineers has to find a solution that will protect the fish without decreasing the water level in our area.  “I think there’s a couple different alternatives that will keep the water higher. One of them that we’ve been in favor of for a long time, is keeping the lock dam and adding gates on the top and possible having white water,” Bonitatibus tells FOX 54.

She also adds that there is a hole in the lock and dam and that it would need work if it was kept. She thinks the Army Corps of Engineers needs to have a solution in the next few weeks so the harbor deepening project can continue this January.

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