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Water ruling reveals Alabama’s lack of planning

added 6.29.11

A ruling yesterday by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in the decades-long water fight between Georgia, Alabama and Florida was viewed by politicians as a "win" for Georgia and "loss" for Alabama. But the real message is that both states must get serious about managing the region's shared water resources more responsibly, and sustainably.

The court ruled that Atlanta can use Lake Lanier--a reservoir in the Chattahoochee River watershed--for drinking water, overruling a lower court's finding.  It gave the Corps of Engineers a year to determine how much lake water Atlanta can use.

Alamaba, which shares the Chattahoochee River with Georgia, will likely appeal the ruling. As SELC's Gil Rogers told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that, while legal fight can go on for years, both states should continue to work toward a settlement and do a better job of managing their water resources for the long haul.

Read SELC's press statement here.

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Previous Case Activity

As Georgia’s Water Woes Persist, SELC Keeps Focus on Conservation

added 1.7.10

The drought may be behind us, but water management remains a front-burner political issue in Georgia. In the wake of a federal court ruling last summer in the protracted tri-state water wars, lawmakers in this year’s General Assembly face tough decisions about how the state will steward this precious resource.

In essence, the judge said metro Atlanta has been drawing its drinking water from Lake Lanier illegally, and he gave Georgia, Alabama, and Florida three years to resolve their dispute over the allocation of shared waters in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river basin. The decision amounts to a stinging rebuke of business as usual in metro Atlanta, which has allowed growth to run rampant without sufficient consideration of water needs.

As the state legislature takes up this matter, SELC and its partners will ensure that lawmakers recognize that conservation is vital to ensuring a reliable water supply for Atlanta and other fast-growing metro areas. We will also counter attempts to use the judge’s ruling as a pretext for promoting new reservoirs, inter-basin transfers, and other engineered fixes that jeopardize the state’s rivers and streams and encourage growth in areas where naturally available water supplies can’t sustain it.

As we advocate wise use of water resources in Georgia, we are also encouraging Alabama to improve its water management in light of the court decision. 
 

Judge rules - again - against Georgia

added 10.7.09

In a ruling this week, the federal judge in the "tri-state water wars" essentially told Georgia to quit filing legal appeals and get serious about settling its disputes over water allocation in Lake Lanier and other waters shared by Alabama and Florida.  The state had filed an appeal of the judge's order from July, in which he determined the Corps of Engineers had been illegally withdrawing water from the lake to meet demands of fast-sprawling metro Atlanta, and gave Georgia and the two other states three years to settle their differences.  

SELC has long advocated for comprehensive, sustainable water-use planning in Georgia and Alabama to protect the ecological health of the two major river basins at issue in the "water wars," and to help avoid the need for major water projects such as reservoirs and interbasin transfers that wreak havoc on river systems.

 

Judge rules that Atlanta can’t take water from Lake Lanier

added 7.17.09

On July 17, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson issued a major ruling in the years-long legal fight between Georgia, Alabama and Florida over water in two major river basins. The judge ruled that the Corps of Engineers has illegally allowed metro Atlanta to withdraw water from Lake Lanier, which was originally approved in 1970 by Congress for flood control, hydropower and navigation. The fast-sprawling metro Atlanta region has come to rely heavily on the lake for its drinking water supply.

The judge's ruling presents a major opportunity for Georgia, as well as Alabama, to come to terms with their water resources management and implement an array of environmentally sustainable measures and projects that will provide clean water for its citizens for the long-term.

Read SELC's July 17 press statement.