BY CHUCK WILLIAMS
Staff Writer

The movement to breach two downtown Columbus dams and create a whitewater run on the Chattahoochee River gained Congressional momentum Wednesday.

The whitewater project was included in the U.S. House Water Resources Development Act, which passed the House Transportation Committee. It could go to a vote of the full House before the July 4 recess, said Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Sharpsburg.

Westmoreland, the only Georgia congressman on the Transportation Committee, pushed for the funding. It could mean about $250,000 to take the project to the construction phase.

"We feel quite confident in the bill's prospects because it sets important policy for the nation's water resources," Westmoreland said. "We can get this done and keep this project moving forward."

The river restoration project is being backed by the Fall Line Alliance, a group of business, governmental, historical and environmental interests. Columbus businessman John Turner, son of retired W.C. Bradley Co. Chairman Bill Turner, is the leader of the alliance.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has done a feasibility study that concluded the project has merit. That study was completed in September 2004 and approved by the Corps Atlanta Regional office in May.

The plan calls for partially removing two dams -- the Eagle & Phenix Dam and City Mills Dam. This would create a 2.3-mile stretch of whitewater from Bibb City to the Dillingham Street Bridge.

There is up to $5 million in federal funds available for the project. There would have to be a 35 percent match with local funding. That money could come from public or private sources. There has been a $2.5 million commitment from a private source to acquire the dams. Federal funds can't be used for the acquisition of the dams.

The Eagle & Phenix Dam is currently owned by Uptown Columbus Inc., a downtown revitalization organization. The dam at City Mills Dam is under contract, but the deal has not been finalized. The dam is owned by City Mills Inc., whose president is local businessman Charlie Bowers.

Nearly six years into the project, John Turner said the local group welcomes the possibility of additional federal funding.

"This will allow us to do the work we need to do in preparation for construction over the next 12 months," Turner said. Turner said the alliance is "still plugging away."

"When we started this, I was totally ignorant in the way to proceed," Turner said. "This is a big river with a number of regulatory agencies involved. Still, we have not encountered an insurmountable obstacle. It is just taking time."

Turner said he is hopeful the project and full funding can be pushed through in a year.

"In a perfect world we would start construction in the summer of 2006," Turner said.