Unneccessary Reservoirs: Threats to Streams and Wetlands

Was it for drinking water? Was it for recreation? Was it for agriculture? No one seems to be able to say for sure. All that is certain is that Conecuh County in southern Alabama wanted to build a 2,650-acre reservoir on Murder Creek, a tributary of the Conecuh River. The impoundment would have caused extensive damage to natural aquatic systems and wildlife habitat for no clearly justifiable purpose. SELC and the Alabama Rivers Alliance provided a counterweight to pressures to pursue this unnecessary project, which would have destroyed more than 1,400 acres of wetlands and 19 miles of streams. 

Elsewhere in southern Alabama, SELC and its partners also pushed back against pressure to build a 1,500-acre reservoir in the biologically rich and largely pristine watershed of the Choctawhatchee River, which flows through the Florida Panhandle to the Gulf of Mexico. The Little Choctawhatchee reservoir would have inundated almost 17 miles of streams and 1,120 acres of wetlands, including bottomland hardwood swamps.

Years of opposition from SELC and our partners ultimately paid off when, in the spring of 2012, localities withdrew their proposals for both projects. See "Latest News" above.