What Is Goin’ On?

If you haven’t heard of the Georgia Water Plan, listen up! This is going to be a big deal before the end of the 2008 legislative session and it could impact your future and the future of the State.

The Water Plan was released at the end of June 2007. Just after the Plan was unveiled, I interviewed Dr. Carol Couch, the head of EPD, about the plan. Of course, as a key participant in the process that developed the plan, Dr. Couch is all for it.

There is little argument but that we need a water plan. That’s the easy part. But, exactly what that plan will be and how it will allocate water is something else. The forces at work are those areas with plenty of water (most of Georgia below the fall-line) and those areas that require more and more water (Metro Atlanta mainly). This is not just about conserving water within a particular area. That is pretty much a given. The Water Wars will be fought in the struggle by the “have nots” to get access to and control of the water resources of the “haves.”

If you don’t think water is a growing problem, then you should listen to this interview with John Henry of Effingham County (near Savannah) which is limited in the amount of water it can pump daily and which cannot accommodate new industry which requires larger amounts of water. For Effingham, the lack of available water already affects its growth.

When it comes to water, there is no better person to talk to than a Riverkeeper. Gordon Rogers is head of Satilla Riverkeeper. One of the primary concerns of the Riverkeeper organizations is “interbasin piping.” Interbasin piping transfers water from one watershed basin to another one. Gordon has studied the plan and according to him the plan proposed by the Water Council does not rule out or prohibit interbasin piping. He thinks it should, and I do, too. Interbasin piping, if ever allowed, will inflame passions in this state even more than the “flag” issue. The consequences of interbasin piping range from environmental to ecological to economic.

The big surprise from Gordon was the fact that according to his interpretation of the plan the Atlanta Metro Water District is not included in the plan proposed by the Water Council. Now I thought the whole problem (or at least the biggest problem) with water in this state was Atlanta, its growth, and its growing need for more and more water. If Atlanta would stop growing, we might not even need a plan. The idea that Atlanta is not included in this supposed state-wide water plan is baffling, maybe even troubling. There must be a reason! And I am not sure it is a good one!

Another problem with this supposed plan, according to Gordon, is that it really isn’t a plan at all. It doesn’t decide or mandate or require specific things to be done. Basically, it just sets up a group of regional planning bodies who will supposedly get together and actually make a plan for their district. Gordon’s concern, and mine too, is that this plan doesn’t protect anything. The regional bodies could come up with a hodge-podge of proposals that don’t integrate well into a workable state-wide water plan.

Gordon recommends that the legislation requiring the development of this water plan be repealed and that we start over and develop a real plan. Why? Because the law that created the Water Council and requires the development of a plan. also provides that the plan proposed by the Water Council automatically takes effect unless the legislature adopts an alternative proposal within the first 20 days of the 2008 legislature.

After the EPD plan was published I had asked Sen. Tommie Williams, (R-19), Senate Majority Leader about the plan and he told me the state had allocated $20M to study the matter and allow the legislature to come up with its own plan. Gordon said he wasn’t aware of any $20M or any study in progress to develop and alterative plan. It would seem to me that if the legislature was going to develop an alternative plan to be presented in 2008, it would be well under way and people like Gordon would know about it.

It appears that the Georgia Chamber of Commerce is pushing the present plan, which means that business developers must want it. A week or so ago, Dr. Couch spoke to the , an organization created by the Georgia Chamber.

The Water Plan is serious business.