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| | Issue #19.25 :: 01/16/2008 - 01/22/2008 | Saving our water
Savannah Riverkeeper finds a loophole in the lawthat raises doubts about the ability of the state waterplan to protect Augusta’s resources from Atlanta
| BY TOM GRANT
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AUGUSTA, GA - The 40-page Georgia Comprehensive State-Wide Water Management Plan is a blueprint “to guide future decisions about water management across the state,” according to the executive summary. Water has become a critical issue because of drought across the Southeast and the need for Atlanta to guarantee itself a continuing source of water.
The Georgia General Assembly has placed the water management plan at the top of its agenda. The law calls for the management plan to be completed by the end of this session.
Many lawmakers, such as Columbia County’s State Sen. Bill Jackson, have read the management plan and see nothing in it that would allow Atlanta to tap into the Savannah River basin.
However, Frank Carl, executive director of Savannah Riverkeeper, says it is not what’s in the bill that makes it dangerous. It is what has been left out.
The water management plan applies to the entire state, but in its current form it would not supercede the governing law of the Metro North Georgia Water District. That district, created by law in 2003, includes 16 counties to the immediate north of Atlanta. (Those counties are represented by the empty hole in the map of Georgia above.)
Carl says Metro North has the ability to annex adjacent counties. He’s concerned that Metro North could offer incentives for Habersham County to join Metro North.
As you can see from the map, Habersham County has access to the Savannah River basin.
According to the law creating North Metro, if a county joins the district, all of its water becomes the district’s water. That, Carl says, could pave the way for substantial interbasin transfers to Metro North despite the statewide plan.
“There would be no way we could stop water from going to Atlanta under the current plan,” Carl said. “What we can do is instead of just passing the water plan, we can put some teeth in it. We can pass it as a law so it’s equal to the Metro North plan.”
If the legislature passed the new water plan as law, instead of as a resolution, Metro North could be forced to get the permission of other districts before there was any transfer of water.
Carl is also asking for the state to set aside funding to support the work of the water districts.
He is critical of parts of the water plan that classify golf courses as an agricultural use and exempt all agriculture from the management plan. Golf courses are large users of water and generally considered recreational.
He also wants greater analysis of water use for power generation. With the potential construction of more nuclear power plants along the Savannah River, which will draw large amounts of water for cooling, power generation could become a major issue for water usage.
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