Community | August 08, 2009 | 6 comments

Tri-state water fight spurs questions on growth

source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111639702

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JanforGore
Georgia, Alabama and Florida have been bickering over water for nearly two decades. The focus: a reservoir at Lake Lanier, north of Atlanta.

Georgia believes it deserves the water. Alabama and Florida say it is needed downstream. A federal judge recently ruled that Georgia doesn't have the right to take drinking water from the reservoir, but that is where 3.5 million Atlanta residents get their water. Now, some wonder whether the area can continue to grow without it.

Some 35 miles northeast of Atlanta, not far from Lake Lanier, is the town of Suwanee, Ga. In 1990, 2,400 people lived there; now, there are nearly 17,000. The growth was planned, but there is no doubt that the city benefited from a plentiful water supply.

Judicial Decision

Now there is a new worry. Last month, a federal judge ruled that the Lake Lanier reservoir was built for flood control, navigation and hydropower — not for drinking water. So, the judge gave the governors three years to negotiate a deal.

If they can't, Congress must approve drinking water as an appropriate use, or Georgia must return to the amount it withdrew in the 1970s, when the Atlanta area was only one-third its current size.

Suwanee Mayor Dave Williams says going back is not an option.

"If you're asking me, do I think we're literally going to have no water — I don't think that's going to be the case," he says. "But I don't think we're going to probably ever again take for granted the fact that we can build as much as we want and the water is going to be there to be had."
  1. groups:
    Community,   Green,   Sustainable Agriculture,   Water Is Life
  2. tags:
    Politics,  Water,  Florida,  Georgia,  8 more
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6 comments // Tri-state water fight spurs questions on growth

  • futuregen
    • 0
      futuregen  

    • I remember hearing a few years ago about the kids in Georgia being worried the public swimming pools would not be filled due to lack of water. The authorities finally allowed them to be filled. I believe there was a controversy about an aquifer (maybe a lake) along the Georgia / ?Florida border and talk that Georgia disputed the existing border between the two states. Apparently sometime in the past the border had been changed (1800's?). Before the change, the aquifer was in Georgia but after the change, it was in ?Florida (might have been a different state). The significance being that it never mattered before but because of the draught, it now mattered greatly.

    • 2 years ago
  • mcdebz
    • 0
      mcdebz  

    • As Central FL residents are dealing with tightened water consumption restrictions, a judge has just approved permitting to allow a new Niagra bottling plant in Groveland to start pumping 484,000 gallons of water a day from the area aquifer. Local grassroots efforts of resistance just don't appear to be enough to stop this blatant disregard for the enviroment. Help!

    • 2 years ago
  • JanforGore
  • mcdebz
    • 0
      mcdebz  
    • mcdebz:

      I have been monitoring this controversy for months now.
      I would refer you to ongoing Orlando Sentinel articles. There is also quite a bit of political intrigue involving the St. Johns Water Management machine affecting these horrible descisions

    • 2 years ago
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Now Congress can tell you if you can drink water or not. And if you click on the link you will see a picture of children playing in a fountain while these governors bellyache about lack of water resources. Does conservation really mean anything to people?

    • 2 years ago
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