Thurmond Lake, GA (WJBF)- Last month, Georgia received more than $73 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. The CSRA will see some of that spent on Strom Thurmond Lake.
This is just the first round of funds being doled out for updates to dams, lakes and harbors. This time around, the CSRA didn’t receive much of that money.
Scott Hyatt with the Army Corp of Engineers said they requested tens of millions of those funds, but only received $1.5 million in this round.
They plan to use this round to upgrade the spillway gate controls on the dam. He said the current panel is original to the dam which was built in the early 1950’s.
“The damn was completed in 1954 and these controls are original to the dam, so they’re long past the time where we can find parts and things for them. So, that will be a welcome upgrade there,” Hyatt explained.
The rest will be used in the West Dam Recreation area.
“We’re gonna be able to do some paving in the West Dam recreation area, which is a very popular day use area in Appling. And around the overlook at our visitors center on the South Carolina side of the dam, which is also a very popular location,” he said.
Hyatt said there will be two more rounds of funds being handed out and they are hoping to get a larger amount to repave and upgrade recreation areas and the camp grounds the Army Corp runs. He explained that the bath houses are original to the campgrounds and need upgrading.
He is also hoping they will be able to upgrade the electricity at their campsites to energy saving outlets. Right now, the Army Corp spends around $300,000 a year on electricity at the sites.
