Obama Official Offers Water War Help

Georgia’s protracted legal-fight with neighbors Florida and Alabama over water supply from the Chattahoochee basin has extended nearly two decades. Earlier this year during a trip to Washington, Governor Sonny Perdue met with Obama administration officials hoping for a fresh look at the situation. At the time, a promise was made for an official to visit Georgia for a first-hand look at the major reservoir in the battle-Lake Lanier. That happened Wednesday with the Interior Secretary’s trip south.

This morning, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar took a helicopter tour over the north Georgia reservoir:

"My own view of Lake Lanier as I walk away from it is it’s one of the great assets here in the state of Georgia that has multiple uses including the generation of power that we use in homes and industry here in GA."

Getting a full sense of the scope of Southeast water issues was a charge given by President Obama to Salazar when he took the reigns of Secretary of the Interior in January. Flanked by Governor Sonny Perdue at a state Capitol press conference, Salazar said the water war is one of the "cardinal issues" for his department.

While Lake Lanier has benefited from good rainfall that’s swept the state in recent months, Perdue acknowledged the basin is still recovering—it remains about five feet below normal.

Meanwhile, in the tri-state fight for Lanier’s water, a Florida U.S. District judge is considering the latest arguments made earlier this month. The question-whether metro Atlanta is entitled to use Lanier as a main drinking water source.

Perdue says costly legal wrangling is going nowhere:

"Ultimately, one litigation leads to another litigation to another appeal, and as Secretary Salazar so wisely talks about what he accomplished in Colorado, the ultimate solution is a mutual agreement among the three affected states."

As attorney general for Colorado in 2002, Salazar helped engineer a tri-state water agreement between Colorado and neighboring Kansas and Nebraska. After tens of millions of dollars spent in the courts, the Governors and attorney generals of those states hashed-out a deal themselves:

"It’s a model that essentially projects what the water supply entitlements are to each of the states, and sets forth an agreement under which any disputes are in fact resolved. And it’s worked well. I’m hoping some of those lessons that we’ve learned in those kinds of situations might be useful here."

Salazar’s position as Interior Secretary doesn’t allow for the power to impose a solution to the tri-state water battle here. Instead, he says he wants to be "helpful when called upon":

"I do not see us as playing the role of coming in and hammering heads and trying to get the deal done. It really is something that has to come from the three respective states, and if we can play a facilitating role in that, we would be very happy to help."

Thursday, Salazar heads further south to meet with Florida Governor Charlie Crist to get that state’s perspective.

Georgia seeks ruling reversal

Georgia has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an unfavorable ruling in its water war with neighboring states. The February ruling that said the state needs congressional approval to use more water from Lake Lanier to supply the Atlanta area. The massive federal reservoir is at the heart of a nearly two-decade water feud among Georgia, Florida and Alabama. In February, the U.S. Court of Appeals threw out a deal between Georgia and the federal government that gives Georgia more water rights over Lanier than other states.

Democrats criticize water wars

Democrats on Capitol Hill are accusing the Republican governors of Alabama, Florida and Georgia of leaving their states unprepared for another dry summer by failing to work out a water-sharing compromise. Congressman Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat, called the recent breakdown of the governors' negotiations "unacceptable." Johnson said the continued uncertainty over water supplies is making citizens anxious and could drive away businesses.

Georgia loses on water ruling

Today Georgia suffered a defeat in its nearly 20-year water war with Florida and Alabama. Today a federal appeals court threw out an agreement between Georgia and the Army Corps of Engineers for water rights to Lake Lanier. The 2003 agreement gave Georgia about a quarter of Lake Lanier's water and is the foundation of the state's long-term plans for supplying drinking water to the rapidly growing Atlanta region. Alabama and Florida argued that Georgia doesn't have any legal right to the federal reservoir, which was initially built for hydropower.

Water war hits U.S. Senate

Boat docks nearly high and dry at Lake Lanier. (Susanna Capelouto)

U.S. Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama added language to an omnibus spending bill that prevents the Army Corps of Engineers from implementing new water control plans for the Chattahoochee River basin. Shelby is a senior member of the powerful appropriations committee.

The move angered both Georgia Senators, Johnny Isacson and Saxby Chambliss. They said the language shouldn't have been allowed without consultation of senators from affected states. The language they say injects Congress into an issue that should remain in the hands of the
Governors of the three affected states.

In October the U.S. Army Corp of engineers said it would start updating it's water contol manuals used to regulate flow in the Chattahoochee and Coosa, Tallapoosa river basins.

The current manuals are almost 20 years old and do not reflect the population growth in Georgia. The language in the spending bill specifically prohibits the Corps from using funds to implement any new water control manuals for the two river basins.

Senator Isaacson says he has the votes to change the language before the appropriaions for the corp of engineers go into effect.

Earlier this week, the Governors of Georgia Alabama and Florida agreed to come up with a drought plan and continue their talks over how to resolve the 17-year-old water dispute.