U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal will be making a number of stops in LaGrange on Monday, and members of the West Point Lake advisory committee want to make sure they bend his ear while he’s here.

The Republican from Gainesville, who also is making a bid for governor this year, has lake advocates concerned after he proposed a bill late last year that would reauthorize all federal lakes in Georgia - including West Point - to be used for water supply.

The move comes after a federal judge’s summer ruling that Congress has three years to either reauthorize Lake Lanier north of Atlanta for a water supply for the region - or the metro area would have to find another source.

West Point Lake advocates say they support the move to change Lanier’s authorization, but the move shouldn’t be “one size fits all” for all the lakes.

“We don’t need an authorization for water supply,” said Joe Maltese, point-man West Point Lake for the city of LaGrange. “The original (Chattahoochee) riverbed was more than enough supply for LaGrange,” even before the lake was impounded almost 40 years ago, he said. Maltese called Deal’s proposal “quite shocking” and the idea of authorizing every federal lake in Georgia for water use “risky and stunning.”

“The last thing we need is another authorized use,” Maltese said.

West Point Lake currently has five authorizations, including recreation, sport fishing and wildlife conservation, making it the only federal lake in the Southeast authorized for recreation.

The Army Corps of Engineers, however, which manages West Point Lake and the other federal lakes in question, has concentrated in recent years on another authorized use, flood control, even in the midst of the severe drought of 2006-07. Leaders in Troup County fear that authorizing the lake for water supply and flood control would put too much pressure on the lake and wind up dropping it to levels making it unusable for recreation and other purposes.

Right now, Deal’s proposal is “sitting in the hopper,” but could become active if ongoing negotiations among Georgia, Alabama and Florida over water rights bear fruit.

“We need to tell (Deal) we want the bill amended to exempt West Point” from a water use authorization, said Dick Timmerberg, executive director of the West Point Lake Coalition. “Doing it for Lanier is fine, but we’re not ‘one size fits all.’ If anything, we want to see the lake managed as it was initially authorized (for recreation).”

Troup County engineer James Emery said: “We don’t want anything to change” with authorizations for West Point Lake.”

Deal will be in town Monday for a drop-in meeting at the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce before briefly appearing at the chamber’s annual dinner that night, followed by a private fundraiser. Members of the lake advisory committee, which is a branch of the chamber, plan to be at the drop-in meeting to talk to Deal. An update on lake issues also is part of the annual meeting agenda.

Lake advocates eventually would like to sit down with Deal or members of his congressional staff and educate him on issues here and ongoing talks that state leaders already are having to plan water resource consumption around Georgia.

“Lake Lanier can’t drive all the decisions,” Maltese said.

Jennifer Shrader may be reached at jshrader@ lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 236.