TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online
Get Ready For Florida-Georgia Water War
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: February 28, 2008
If Georgia is not going to be a good steward or a good neighbor, Florida should take it to court to prevent the ruin of Apalachicola Bay.
Negotiations among Florida, Georgia and Alabama about water use have reportedly broken down because Georgia refuses to adequately restrict its draw from the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint rivers. Its diversions, primarily to supply Atlanta's drinking water, are damaging industries and ecosystems downstream.
Information about the negotiations are sketchy because the participating parties - representatives of the three states, two power companies and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - signed a confidentiality agreement to keep the proceedings secret.
The state never should have agreed to such terms, particularly since 10 years ago, then-Attorney General Bob Butterworth ruled that similar water negotiations among the states were governed by Florida's Sunshine Law.
Gov. Charlie Crist should institute a policy requiring state agencies to get his approval for any confidentiality agreements, since they fly in the face of his push toward transparency. Remember, a similar hush-hush agreement with CSX railroad allowed state transportation officials to hide a half-billion project that will disrupt communities from Plant City to Wildwood.
The state Department of Environmental Protection felt it needed to comply with the agreement to ensure productive talks, but Georgia officials might have been more cooperative if their demands had been made in public.
In any event, it appears Georgia is unwilling to change its water consumption or allow neighboring states an adequate flow. Georgia's water-conservation record is miserable. Despite the drought, it didn't even restrict lawn irrigation last summer.
Georgia's irresponsible habits imperil Apalachicola Bay, one of the nation's most productive marine-life sanctuaries and the source of 2,000 seafood-related jobs. The adequate flow of fresh water is essential to its health.
Also needing water are a hydroelectric plant and an Alabama nuclear plant that furnishes power to 800,000 households.
Some Georgia politicians pretend the dispute is over the Endangered Species Act's protections for a rare mussel. But the economic and environmental welfare of Florida and Alabama are at stake.
If Georgia refuses to cooperate, litigation appears to be Florida's only option. Florida has a strong case, which was evident last month when a federal appeals court threw out another agreement Georgia reached with the Army Corps that shortchanged Florida and Alabama.
Florida should not be forced to sacrifice a natural treasure and the jobs its supports because Georgia won't discipline its water use and develop alternative sources.
Post a comment
(Requires free registration.)
* Keep it clean
* Respect others
* Don't hate
* Don't use language you wouldn't use with your mom
* Use "Report Inappropriate Comments" link when necessary
* See Member Agreement for details
Reader Comments
Posted by ( BBro ) on February 28, 2008 at 6:48 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I live in Cumming, Ga. right by Lake Lanier, I don't know where you get your information from but we were and still are banned from watering our lawns, washing our cars and we cannot even use the outdoor watering hoses and there are enforcement vehicles that ride all the communities and enforce this including numbers setup for neighbor to turn in neighbor, water is rough up here. The whole time and still Alabama is using water continuously throughout the year on all outdoor needs and Florida is as well. My parents and siblings live in Tampa/ Brandon areas and all them could and still can water their yards at some point during the week, we do not use any water outside period, I mean zero. So don't go tooting your little horn so loud about how bad Georgia is when your not patrolling the use of your own state. Why don't you add in there about the millions in your desaltation plant and how you had to go to a resource of that kind because Florida has over built and still is building. There has been moratoriums put in place up here because of water situations to limit the growth because of water shortages, has Florida ever done that, hell no they haven't. So get your act together, the government let that state get so screwed up is why I left in the first place. I loved Florida growing up and now it's just a bedroom for a bunch of rude nasty people. Sorry Florida natives I know how you feel but I had to leave. Go Bucs & Go Gators..I love my teams, that will never change...
Report Inappropriate Comments
Posted by ( beavis39ghz ) on February 28, 2008 at 7:48 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
It amazes me that Florida even has the right to argue for GA to release more water. Had it not been for the Lake Lanier resevoir and the Lake Seminole resevoir, the Applachicola River would be dry right now. Nature (no rain) is the cause here.
I am a Florida native (Lutz) and I used to live on Lake Lanier. The lake has been utterly destroyed by this drought. It was the second most visited recreational lake in the United States right behind Lake of the Ozarks.
Now you are lucky if you can find a boatramp..I thank God that I sold my home there two years ago. The water was 28ft deep off of my dock..that dock according to a photo my former neighbor sent me is in the mud!
As for water restrictions, I remember Forsyth County, GA imposed water restrictions as far back as 2000. The restrictions even covered people living in communities that had private reclaimed water systems.
Sue God, not Georgia. Ok that was smart..it's called hard times. The industries and "ecosystems" down stream will have to evolve to the lowered water levels or become extinct..that's how nature works...
Report Inappropriate Comments
Posted by ( JackNelsonSteward ) on February 28, 2008 at 8:18 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Well, if "nature" was at work there wouldn't be a Lake Lanier and the water wouldn't be being pumped out of the rivers for car washes and golf courses. That ain't nature at work.
What you are seeing here is the first rumbling in this area of the country of what promises to become a nationwide and worldwide water war. Huge rivers (like the Amazon) no longer reach the sea because of the combination of drought and human consumption. The Colorado has simply soaked into the desert short of the ocean for years and is now declared in "critical decline."
Nature's systems accomodated both excess and scarcity. Wetlands absorbed water and held it and in dry times that water flowed. We have a perfect example of the result of man's ingenuity right here in Florida.
Keep your ears open and you will continue to hear the growing rumble as the consumptive habits of humanity conflict with the declining availability of easily useable water.
This has the potential to make the struggle for oil look like a grade school spat.
Report Inappropriate Comments
Posted by ( InAtlanta ) on February 28, 2008 at 1:50 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Are you kidding me? No water restrictions in Georgia? TBO needs to get its head out of the sand. We haven't been allowed to to water our lawns, wash our cars or use the hose for more than a year. Hundreds, yes hundreds of landscaping and lawn service companies have gone out of business because of Georgia's water restrictions. Get your facts straight TBO. Outright lies do not help.
Report Inappropriate Comments
Posted by ( Wave341 ) on March 2, 2008 at 4:11 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
If by "allowing it neighbors an adequate flow" you mean continuing the practice of releasing a normal volume of water during a critical drought and draining Lake Lanier so that you can pretend the South has had normal rainfall, you're absolutely stark raving mad. For your information, the Atlanta area has not been watering lawns and washing cars like the residents of Florida. We've been under a total outdoor watering ban so that the feds can artificially maintain the rivers at an inflated volume that would NOT exist if we didn't drain our drinking water reservoir. Suck it up, Florida. You've been taking water you would not receive it if weren't for your insatiable greed and the stupidity of the feds.
Report Inappropriate Comments