5th Annual State of Our Watershed Conference

This year’s organizers and sponsors included the Auburn University Water Resources Center, Alabama Water Watch, the Middle Tallapoosa Clean Water Partnership, Lake Watch of Lake Martin, the Montgomery Water Works and Sanitary Sewer Board, and Central Alabama Community College.

Conference topics included:

1. Overview of the Tallapoosa River Basin Management Plan
2. Evaluation of alternatives in river basin management in several southern states
3. Community participation in visioning better water policy for the Tallapoosa River Basin

View the Tallapoosa River Basin Management Plan (276 pages - PDF)

Deutsch goes to say that the conclusion of this conference has yet to be determined. Much of the conference itself is to promote awareness about the watershed and issues affecting it as well as gathering information from stakeholders. Participants were asked by questionaires what they liked about the management plan and what they thought was missing from the plan. These submissions will be summarized and published at a later date. One common thought by many was the fact that the Tallapoosa Watershed is one of the least threatened watersheds in the state of Alabama. What do we do to keep it that way?


Photo of Conference Speakers

J. Brian Atkins, Division Director, Office of Water Resources (OWR), Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA)
Brian has served in his current position as Director of OWR, part of ADECA, since March 2007.   The role of OWR is to plan, coordinate, develop, and manage Alabama’s water resources in a manner that is in the best interest of the State.  Prior to that, he worked for the USGS Alabama Water Science Center in Montgomery, Alabama, where he was chief of the office’s Hydrologic Investigations and Analysis Section and project chief of the NAWQA study of the Mobile River Basin. He holds a BS in civil engineering from the University of Alabama and is a registered professional engineer.

Bennett L. Bearden, Assistant Attorney General and Counsel to the State Geologist, Geological Survey of Alabama (GSA)
Bennett’s legal, political and negotiating skills have placed him squarely in the center of one of Alabama‘s most important policy issues: water resources.  As an Assistant Attorney General and Counsel to the State Geologist of Alabama, he is involved in a range of initiatives to foster water assessments and investigations with federal, state and local agencies.  Trained as a water lawyer, he represents the Office of the State Geologist at the Geological Survey of Alabama (GSA) and assists GSA’s water team in developing legal and policy recommendations for the Permanent Joint Legislative Committee on Water Policy and Management.

Kim Benefield, Senator, 13th District, Alabama State Senate
Senator Benefield is Chairperson of the Permanent Joint Legislative Committee on Water Policy and Management.  The daughter of a public educator, she grew up on a farm in rural Randolph County.  She earned a BS degree in accounting from Jacksonville State University.  She was first elected as Circuit Clerk of Randolph County in 1988 and served eighteen years.  Senator Benefield has served her community through United Way, as an officer and Board Member of the Randolph County Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Randolph County, treasurer of the Randolph County Baptist Association, and PTA.

Eve Brantley, Watershed Program Specialist, Alabama Cooperative Extension System
Eve is with the Auburn University Department of Agronomy and Soils.  She has worked on watershed and water quality outreach, management, and restoration with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System since 2000.  She previously worked at the Weeks Bay, Alabama watershed coordinator and as a coordinator for the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream program.

Gerard Brewer, City Engineer/Public Works Director, City of Alexander City
Gerard graduated from Auburn University with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering in 1991 and earned his Professional Engineering Certificate in 1996.  He worked with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management for two years and as an environmental consulting engineer for four years.  He has been the City Engineer and Director of Public Works for the City of Alexander City for about twelve years.  In his role as City Engineer, Gerard has worked with many water-, wastewater-, and watershed-related issues.  He is a stakeholder and board member of the Middle Tallapoosa Basin of the Clean Water partnership.

Dick Bronson, President, Lake Watch of Lake Martin
Dick received his BS and MA from Central Michigan University.  He retired as Colonel from the US Army in 1984 and moved to the lake fulltime.  In 1991, he founded Lake Watch of Lake Martin, a local citizen volunteer group that works with governmental and non-governmental organizations within the Tallapoosa River Basin to protect and enhance the water quality of Lake Martin.  He currently serves as the group’s President and is a frequent collaborator with Alabama Water Watch on various water quality studies.