Water Fight Pits Lawmakers Against Corps of Engineers
By Herman Wang, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.
Oct. 19–WASHINGTON — With extreme drought conditions threatening Georgia’s shrinking water reserves, the state’s congressional delegation, rarely unified on anything, had collective harsh words Thursday for the Army Corps of Engineers.
The lawmakers have been frustrated by the Corps’ unwillingness to reduce water releases from Lake Lanier, the main water reservoir for Metro Atlanta.
The Corps it says it is required under the Endangered Species Act to maintain a minimum flow to protect some mussels and gulf sturgeon downstream in Florida.
“This is a crisis situation, and now is not the time for the Corps of Engineers to take a coffee break,” U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Ga., said at a news conference that included all 13 of Georgia’s U.S. House members and both senators.
But Rob Holland, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers’ Atlanta office, said the Corps’ hands are tied by the law. With lakes farther south on the Chattahoochee River nearly exhausted, flows from Lake Lanier will be increased to meet the minimum flows required for the endangered species, the Corps recently announced.
The released water also cools water intakes at a small coal-fired power plant that services North Florida.
“While we have some flexibility on some aspects of our operation, the Endangered Species Act does not allow any deviations from flows that are needed to support the species,” Mr. Holland said. “We are releasing what is required, and we cannot arbitrarily, on our own initiative, alter that requirement without violating the law.”
The lawmakers countered that the lake was created as a drinking water supply source and should be managed as such, endangered species nonwithstanding.
They plan to make that clear in a meeting with Corps leaders tentatively scheduled for next week, as usage and drought shrink Lake Lanier’s reserves below an estimated 30-day supply for the region.
The lawmakers have introduced bills in the House and the Senate to allow a state to be exempt from the Endangered Species Act when the Secretary of the Army Corps of Engineers or a governor declares that drought conditions are threatening the “health, safety and welfare” of residents served by a federally managed river basin.
“We are united as a delegation in those efforts,” Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said. “As we move forward, we’re going to be talking with the Corps ourselves. We’re able to put some pressure, as federal policy makers, on the Corps to make sure they’re doing what the law says they should do.”
The 38,000-acre Lake Lanier, which supplies the water for much of North Georgia and metro Atlanta, is about 13 feet below normal.
Georgia has imposed statewide water use restrictions on its residents, but Alabama and Florida have not followed suit. The three states have feuded for years in lawsuits over management of the Chattahoochee River watershed.
“The folks in Alabama are enjoying life without any restrictions on their water usage,” Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said. “The people of Georgia are paying a heavy price, and it’s unfair.”
E-mail Herman Wang at hwang@timesfreepress.com
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