Georgia Water Plan in Hands of Legislators

By Lori Yount, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.

Jan. 15–ATLANTA — As promised, Georgia lawmakers were greeted at the 2008 legislative session Monday with copies of the state’s first water management plan waiting on their desks.

And, they expect to vote by the end of this first week on whether to enact it.

Doubts remain for some about parts of the plan, especially regarding boundaries for the regional water councils that would carry out most of its action, but Northwest Georgia legislators said they generally were relieved to have a plan in their hands.

“There are some concerns about it, but I think it’s a plan everybody is able to accept,” Rep. Roger Williams, R-Dalton, said. “The people back home, the carpet industry, think they can live with it.”

Resolutions were introduced in both the House and Senate to approve the plan as drawn up by the state’s Water Council, which was formed by legislation passed in 2004 to develop a water strategy.

With a drought of historic proportion parching the state and years of work already logged into the plan, legislators feel pressure to pass the “plan to plan” — and do so quickly, said Rep. John Meadows, R-Calhoun, who is on the House Natural Resources Committee.

The Department of Natural Resources’ Environmental Protection Division leads the Water Council, and the plan outlines how to assess and plan to manage Georgia’s water resources.

Legislators cannot amend the plan itself, and if they don’t vote to approve it, an alternative must be passed before the end of the session or the original one would take effect.

“The tough part is everyone has signed off on it,” Rep. Meadows said, pointing to signatures of the chairmen of both the House and Senate Natural Resource committees on the Water Council’s recommendation. He said the water plan also has the endorsements of Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson, R-Hiram.

“You don’t want to throw it away, but at the same time, it doesn’t address all our problems,” Rep. Meadows said.

Rep. Meadows said he is concerned about recent changes in the plan that would define the 11 regional water councils more along county and service district lines rather than natural water basins. Those councils would carry out the water resource assessments and make recommendations on how to conserve and manage that water.

And he finds troubling the plan’s lack of elaboration on how to find additional sources of water or on where that water would be sent, he said.

Even if North Georgia is able to negotiate receiving more water from the Tennessee River, “Would it flow to Atlanta, Georgia, or where is it going to go?” Rep. Meadows asked.

The House Natural Resources Committee is scheduled on Wednesday to discuss the resolution to approve the plan, and the full House could vote by the end of the week, Rep. Meadows said, adding that he is still “torn” about how he would vote.

“In one respect, it’s good to vote quick,” he said, noting some representative may vote along regional lines. “You find out if you have enough people (against it) to do something.”

A separate Senate resolution to approve the plan also is on the fast-track, scheduled to be heard in committee this afternoon and likely to make it to the Senate floor by Friday, said Sen. Ross Tolleson, R-Perry, chairman of the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee.

He said he expects it to pass in committee and in the full Senate.

“It’s a historic moment, really,” Sen. Tolleson said. “We finally have a statewide comprehensive water plan. It’s imperative we look at the drought as a positive in moving (the water plan) forward.”

Sen. Don Thomas, R-Dalton, said he plans to vote to approve the plan, although he has a few reservations about it, because he feels legislators can make changes after it’s approved.

“It’s one of the things really done right,” he said.

However, Sen. Thomas said Georgians should work on not only state, but also regional and federal levels, to solve water woes.

“We have to work with other states, even though that’s so difficult to do,” he said, and adding those states should extend beyond Alabama and Florida.

“We need to be working with TVA and Tennessee.”

E-mail Lori Yount at lyount@timesfreepress.com

WATER MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES The Georgia Environmental Protection Division prioritized four major water management objectives for the state’s water management plan: — Minimize withdrawals of water though conservation, reuse and efficiency. — Maximize returns to river basins by managing interbasin transfers and types of sewage and wastewater treatment systems. — Assure water meets “instream” needs of ecosystems, navigation and hydropower, and needs consumption, industry and other “offstream” uses through reservoirs, aquifer management and reduced demand. — Protect water quality by reducing pollution and runoff from land.

Source: Georgia Water Council

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