Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, left, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, left center, U. S. Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, right center, and Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, right, sit for a photo opportunity before their southeast water meeting, Monday, Dec. 17, 2007, in Tallahassee. (Associated Press)
The three leaders and the Secretary of the Interior met at the Florida governor's mansion to discuss access to water that flows from the Atlanta area south into the Gulf of Mexico.
They agreed to a come up with a water sharing plan by Feb. 15.
Governor Sonny Perdue told reporters, that the weekend weather helped start the meeting off on an optimistic note: "The thing that changed it was, the rainfall that we got over the weekend."
Alabama Governor Bob Riley said after the six-hour parley,"I don't think that I've been at a more productive meeting."
Florida Governor Charlie Crist agreed, saying, "We identified a lot of issues that are important to each and every one of our states."
The four agreed upon a revised schedule to address the short- and long-term needs of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) and Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT) river basins.
“Water conservation is precious to our three states and I thank my friends for traveling to Florida to discuss this tremendously important issue,” Governor Crist said. “The people of our state have suffered due to the recent reduction of water flow. Due to recent rainfall, we see increased amounts of water entering Florida that will assist our oystermen. I’m also pleased that we agreed to remove the June 1 deadline imposed by the Army Corps and have agreed to a new date of March 15th to allow state and federal partners to develop improved drought strategies.”
Regarding the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers, the Governors agreed to send a high level staff delegation to Washington, DC in early January to discuss steps needed to move toward a new drought protocol for all three states. It was also agreed that the Governors would meet in February to conclude the tri-state water protocol that would take effect on March 15, 2008.
Representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service also participated in today’s meeting to provide factual information on current conditions of both the ACF River Basin and the ACT River Basin (Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa).
(With The Associated Press)
