Environmentalists Claim New Plan Has Sprung Leak

By B y Brandon Larrabee

ATLANTA – A new draft of a proposed state water policy that would more closely match planning districts to the state’s major river basins has failed to win over critics, opening up the possibility of a bitter fight over state resources in the coming legislative session.

Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch, who led the development of the proposal, sent a memo to members of the Georgia Water Council late last week detailing the new plan. The latest draft moves away from a proposal to use the state’s economic development districts as the basis for local water planning.

“The revised map reflects proposed new water planning boundaries that – using whole counties – generally track significant portions of major river basins (in most of Georgia above the Fall Line) and aquifers (in most of Georgia below the Fall Line),” Ms. Couch wrote to members of the council. “Please note that these proposed new water planning boundaries would not alter the fact that all water resource assessments … and resource management decisions will be in accordance with the geographical boundaries of watersheds and aquifers.”

The council is set to vote on the plan today.

Sen. Ross Tolleson, R-Perry, a member of the council, said the new proposal takes into account the watersheds and the county lines, avoiding the confusion of having some counties end up as members of two or three districts.

But critics, who have called for the districts to mirror river basins, say the new plan is only a slight improvement.

“Even with the new lines, watersheds are divided and would be put in different areas across the state,” said April Ingle, the executive director of the Georgia River Network.

Central to the problem, environmentalists say, is the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, which was created by the General Assembly. The Water Council is powerless to break up a district with access to five major river basins.

Lawmakers must approve the Water Council’s recommendations by the midpoint of the legislative session, allow the council’s latest draft to take effect automatically, or scrap the council’s proposals and come up with a plan of its own.

Reach Brandon Larrabee at (678) 977-3709 orbrandon.larrabee@morris.com.

Originally published by B y Brandon Larrabee Morris News Service.

(c) 2008 Augusta Chronicle, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.