The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now has the ‘green-light’ to begin the process of updating a 50-year-old manual that manages a critical river basin serving Georgia, Alabama, and Florida.
The Secretary of the Army says the Corps will start work on a new water control plan for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin. This is the basin that includes Lake Lanier, and serves water users downstream into Florida and Alabama.
Currently, the Corps uses a 1958 manual that does not account for a population boom in the region, and the Endangered Species Act. The original manual focuses mainly on flood control, navigation, and recreation.
Georgia, Florida and Alabama have been fighting over water in the basin for well over a decade. Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson says a new manual will help lead to a resolution in the dispute.
"Any tri-state water compact the Governors agree to, is going to be conditional to having a modernized water control manual. It really accelerates the process forward, and I think it puts the pressure--appropriately so--on the states to come to an agreement".
Corps officials say the process of updating the manual could take up to three years.
The Secretary of the Army says the Corps will start work on a new water control plan for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin. This is the basin that includes Lake Lanier, and serves water users downstream into Florida and Alabama.
Currently, the Corps uses a 1958 manual that does not account for a population boom in the region, and the Endangered Species Act. The original manual focuses mainly on flood control, navigation, and recreation.
Georgia, Florida and Alabama have been fighting over water in the basin for well over a decade. Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson says a new manual will help lead to a resolution in the dispute.
"Any tri-state water compact the Governors agree to, is going to be conditional to having a modernized water control manual. It really accelerates the process forward, and I think it puts the pressure--appropriately so--on the states to come to an agreement".
Corps officials say the process of updating the manual could take up to three years.
