Swimming & Diving Articles

Sea Island Tidal Pool Could Turn Into Swimming Pools

Sea Island, GA (PRWeb) December 15, 2006 -- To protect the salt marsh on Sea Island from destruction by fill dirt for residential swimming pools, the Altamaha Riverkeeper (ARK) www.altamahariverkeeper.org filed a Clean Water Act (CWA) lawsuit. The civil action, number CV206-292, was filed in U.S. District Court, Southern District of GA, Brunswick Division on December 8, 2006.

This follows an earlier legal action in which ARK filed a federal suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) after the Corps issued a Nationwide Permit 18 to fill a tidal area. In the suit, ARK alleges that according to regulations a Nationwide 18 Permit cannot be used to fill in a tidal area in Georgia. The civil action, number CV206-186, was filed in the U. S. Southern District of GA, Brunswick Division on August 8, 2006.

Sea Island, Georgia, known around the globe for its exclusive five star Cloister Resort, touts on its website, "the island exists in a world of unspoiled natural splendor." The Altamaha Riverkeeper notes "Sea Island's natural splendor is now threatened as a local resident takes steps to build a bulkhead and fill a tidal area for the construction of two private swimming pools."

Background
When residents got word of planned construction in the marsh near their home, they called the Altamaha Riverkeeper (ARK). Upon investigation, Altamaha Riverkeeper James Holland documented evidence that classified the area as tidal waters of the United States. "The property contains visible signs of tides such as high water marks and fresh duckweed washed in by the tides," Holland says. "I advised the neighbors the area should be protected under the Clean Water Act and to contact the Corps."

When the USACE visited the site, the representative said the site had been declared non tidal by the Corps and they had granted the property owner a Nationwide Permit 18 to allow the construction of swimming pools. A Nationwide Permit18 is used by the Corps to streamline and expedite the waiting time for a permit.

From May through October 2006, Holland monitored the site and during spring tides, he photographed and documented tidewater entering the area. Using a dip net, Holland documented the presence of blue crabs, shrimp, silver mullet, and salt-water eel in the pools. He also took videos capturing visual evidence of blue crabs foraging in the pool and a school of 200-300 mullet swimming in the water.

Environmental attorney Don Stack presented the Corps with the evidence illustrating the area contained tidal pools. However, according to the lawsuit, the Corps stated they would not accept documentation gathered by Holland, because in their opinion he was not an expert. Later, after conducting a review of selected portions of the evidence presented by the Altamaha Riverkeeper, the Corps agreed the area was tidal but attributed the tidal influence to a rain event.

According to the lawsuit, before taking legal action against the Corps, ARK brought in two more experts, a hydrologist and a biologist who documented and confirmed the area was flooded by tides and therefore not eligible to receive a Nationwide Permit 18.

In a letter to the Corps and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Coastal Resources Division (CRD) concerning this project, renowned conservationist and author Alan Rabinowitz wrote, "I was distressed to learn of the issuance of a Nationwide Permit 18 concerning a request to fill wetlands at the above mentioned sites. Having worked on wetlands around the world, I understand their ecological importance to the natural systems and I am concerned at how these lands are being treated in the United States.

In fact, these particular seemingly small areas specified above are crucial to the well being of the entire high salt marsh system that depends on them. By filling in these areas, you will be destroying a crucial component of the salt marsh nursery that is critical to the health and well being of the marine life in this ecosystem."

In an attempt to avert the marsh fill authorized by the Corps, ARK also provided the documentation demonstrating the tidal nature of the site to CRD. Even though the CRD can question the use of a Nationwide Permit 18 if they determine the area is tidal, the CRD took no action.

Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr. of the United States District Court, Southern District, accepted the Corps' report declaring the area non-tidal. However, the information did not include the subsequent additional evidence provided by ARK proving the area was tidal. The judge refused to continue a temporary restraining order issued earlier by another federal judge.

Construction material arrived on site in early December and a bulkhead was constructed to prevent the tidal waters from interfering with the construction of the swimming pools. Deborah Sheppard, Executive Director of the Altamaha Riverkeeper and its Altamaha Coastkeeper program says, "This action to divert tidal waters provides more proof that the area in question is tidal. DNR's Coastal Resources Division and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers are failing miserably in their duty to protect the salt marsh from encroachment by human activities. As a result of this failure to properly review and evaluate the tidal status of this site, the publicly owned salt marsh is once again compromised for private gain"

Why the area is important.
Two thirds of the commercially important marine species on the Atlantic and Gulf Coast are dependent on coastal estuaries and wetlands for food, spawning, and nursery areas. Approximately 20-25 % of all plant and animal species on the endangered species list are dependent on wetlands for food and habitat sources, according to the Council on Environmental Quality.

More than 30% of wetland loss is due to urban development and since 1970 the population of the nine coastal Georgia counties has doubled with the addition of 38,640 people. For Georgia, this means a loss of an estimated 78,000 acres of wetlands between 1954 and 1999, according to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for Congress report entitled "Wetlands: Status and Trends in the Conterminous United States" www.fws.gov/nwi/statusandtrends.htm.

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