Columbus and Phenix City have agreed to share water resources, despite the ongoing water war between Georgia, Alabama, and Florida.
Officials from both cities held a ceremony on Thursday on a bridge over the Chattahoochee River, marking the accord. A pipe siphoning water from the river just north of Columbus connects both cities’ systems.
Columbus uses about 30 million gallons of water daily. Phenix City uses far less daily – about six to eight million gallons.
The accord is meant to allow mutual aid in an emergency situation, like Katrina or terrorism.
Billy Turner, President of the Columbus Water Works, says that while the agreement has no bearing on the ongoing water war between the two states and Florida, it does show mutual goodwill.
”In some ways, people think the river divides us; but in Columbus and in Phenix City, we believe it’s what connects us.”
Turner says either city would be willing to supply the other with up to eight million gallons of water a day, in an emergency.
Phenix City plans to draw off about one million gallons a day in coming weeks, while they work on their water system.
