By Rachel Grace
Environmental spending hasn’t been a priority in Georgia for years, something Jason Ulseth hoped to change after this year’s midterm elections.
Ulseth is running for Fulton County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor, one of three elected positions on a five-person board (the other two positions being appointed). Ulseth has also served as a Chattahoochee riverkeeper for 11 years.
“I grew up on the Chattahoochee River,” said Ulseth. “I’ve played in it, swam in it, fished in it, but I’ve noticed a deterioration in its health recently due to increased stormwater runoff and construction. I decided the best way to protect this river was to get involved so I could oversee pollution control plans and funding directly.”
Ulseth is concerned with erosion and sediment control in river systems, but said that deteriorating dams is one of the most pressing environmental issues in Georgia, something that Walter Rekuc, the incumbent candidate running for the position, agreed with.
“A lot of these lakes were man-made for flood control, so if there happened to be a lot of rainfall, these dams would help store that water and lessen the impact downstream,” said Rekuc. “But the problem now is that the design standards in the 1950s and 1960s – when many of these dams were built – are not the same standards we have today. We have a lot more heavy rainfall than these dams were built to manage.”
Cities or districts typically have legal ownership over watershed dams which require routine maintenance to keep them strong and prevent breaches. However, in recent years, there hasn’t been enough funding allotted to these cities or districts to perform the necessary repairs and upgrades.
Craig Sorensen, a senior automation project engineer at Andritz Hydro, Inc., said that ignoring dam maintenance will lead to heavier costs down the line.
“Dams are an important part of creating clean, renewable energy and controlling water levels,” said Sorensen. “Routinely fixing up and maintaining dams to make sure there aren’t any breaches may seem like a costly and unnecessary task now, but imagine the expense of fixing a completely ruptured dam, as well as the cost of property and ecosystem damage downstream from that breach. We shouldn’t wait until it’s too late.”
Ulseth said he hopes to get the chance to sit down with General Assembly members and make his case for prioritizing environmental spending. Rekuc wanted to do the same and said that it all starts with education.
“Education is a very important part of what we do in terms of increasing funding – we want to help people help themselves,” said Rekuc. “I want representatives of the state to understand the environment problems Georgia faces so they can bolster our budget and fix these issues, but I also want to educate regular citizens so they can elect representatives who will make these changes.”