Augusta lines up $481,043 FERC compliance package for canal
Augusta-Richmond County Utilities Department, Georgia · Meeting date: November 3, 2026 · Published: November 4, 2026
Augusta-Richmond County was scheduled to consider a two-year Cranston LLC engineering contract supporting its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission licence application for operation of the Augusta Canal. The programme combines annual regulatory reporting with upgrades to flood modelling, mapping and emergency planning.
Key points
- The proposed Cranston LLC contract is valued at $481,043, funded from Augusta Utilities accounts.
- Its scope covers 2026-27 annual FERC reporting, Emergency Action Plan updates, public-safety reviews, dam-safety surveillance and security-compliance support.
- The work includes a new two-dimensional HEC-RAS hydraulic model for the approximately seven-mile canal, replacing an earlier one-dimensional US Army Corps of Engineers model.
- Cranston would also update the Inflow Design Flood Report and Sudden Failure Assessment, using a modernised canal base map and supporting a 2027 emergency-action exercise.
Full report
Augusta Utilities has proposed a $481,043 engineering-services package to support its continuing application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for operation of the Augusta Canal, moving regulatory compliance work beyond routine annual reporting into flood modelling and emergency-response planning.
The Commission was scheduled to consider a two-year contract with Cranston LLC. Augusta Utilities said Cranston had previously completed FERC-required inspections and plan updates, and was familiar with the canal’s history, structures and operations.
The contract would cover annual updates in 2026 and 2027 to the Emergency Action Plan, Public Safety Plan, Dam Safety Surveillance and Monitoring Plan, and Owner’s Dam Safety Programme. It also includes FERC D2SI annual security-compliance certification and follow-up work related to a June 25, 2026 FERC security-inspection letter.
A substantial part of the proposed scope concerns updating the technical basis for flood and failure planning. Cranston would modernise approximately 50 canal mapping sheets using available GIS, CAD, LiDAR, aerial and record data. The firm would also develop a two-dimensional unsteady-flow HEC-RAS model for the approximately seven-mile canal, replacing a one-dimensional model developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the early 2000s.
The model would incorporate two passive weirs, 10 outlet-control gates, 19 inline flood-control gates and nine miles of levees. It would support updates to the Inflow Design Flood Report, including review of gate-operation assumptions, discharge limitations and canal freeboard.
Cranston would also update the Sudden Failure Assessment and related Emergency Action Plan documentation, including detection, verification, notification and response-time assumptions. The proposed work includes support for a coordinated 2027 practical emergency exercise.
The $481,043 proposal comprises $169,900 for annual FERC reports and updates, $33,100 for field inspections and compliance reporting, $194,200 for project management, coordination, training and additional tasks, and $139,400 for mapping, modelling, IDF and SFA updates and exercise support. A $55,557 prior-contract credit reduces the total from $536,600.
This summary was generated by AI based on the source document and may contain errors.
Source: Commission Meeting, Augusta-Richmond County Utilities Department