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Wednesday, Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-02) supported the approval of H.R. 7776, the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2022. This bill reauthorizes and increases environmental projects, overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers, that address water, wastewater, water supply, and stormwater management. The legislation also includes provisions requested by Congressman Bishop that will improve water infrastructure in Middle and Southwest Georgia. It was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives with overwhelming, bipartisan support.

“Today’s Water Resources Development Act makes great strides in improving our efforts to tackle the perennial problem of Hydrilla, an invasive species plaguing Lake Seminole,” said Congressman Bishop. “The Albany community remembers the tragedies of two disastrous ‘500 year’ floods in the 1990s. This bill supports Albany’s floodplain improvement projects as well as water quality projects to mitigate stormwater overflow and protect clean drinking water.”

Earlier in the year, Congressman Bishop offered testimony in front of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to urge his colleagues to include measures in the bill that help improve invasive species management of Hydrilla, include a sewer overflow study and a floodplain study in Albany, and include a feasibility study for a forecast informed reservoir operations system on the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin.

Congressman Bishop has hosted town halls and community meetings in Southwest Georgia about the Hydrilla problem in Lake Seminole. He regularly gets community input and solicits feedback from the Army Corps of Engineers. Last November, the Congressman sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers in support of a focused effort to manage the invasive species.