By Jonathan Copsey / STAFF

Georgia has suffered a major setback in the use of Lake Lanier for drinking water – last Friday a Florida judge ruled that the lake was never meant to be used for drinking water, and as such is off limits to Atlanta.

“The judge has given us three years to obtain congressional approval for the use of Lake Lanier for water supply,” explained Governor Sonny Purdue during a press conference on the ruling. “If those 3 years pass, then the use of Lake Lanier will go back to 1975 levels.” That is, no more than 13 percent of the lake can be used by Atlanta. The city gets the majority of its drinking water from the reservoir of Lake Lanier.

The use of the lake water has been the center of an intense inter-state tussle between Georgia, Alabama and Florida, which all share the rivers that flow from the lake reservoir. Arguments were enflamed during the drought of the past several years, where Georgia sued the Army Corps of Engineers, who administers the lake’s water levels, for less water to be released, saving it for Atlanta’s use; since Alabama and Florida are both downstream, they fought back. Purdue asserted that the state would appeal the decision.

“Draconian” Ruling

The Florida judge, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson, decided in his ruling that the power to control access to the lake waters lies solely with Congress. Georgia has three years in which to gain Congressional approval to use the lake or it will be forced to revert back to the usage given in 1975 – 13 percent of the water. This is far below the current usage of 22 percent.

The judge called his own ruling “draconian” but stood by it, claiming that was what the law ordered. Neither Georgia, nor the other states had advocated reverting to such levels.

Since the ruling, Georgia’s congressional delegation seems to be reluctant to get involved in any dispute, seemingly preferring to let the governors hash out a deal first. Purdue would have none of it.

“Georgia is a wise steward of the water that flows through these lands,” said Purdue. “And we’ll continue to use what we need and only what we need – but we will fight to the death to use what we need.”

With the severe drought and legal problems with the lake, the metropolitan area was ordered to cut back on water usage, which it largely did. Conservation efforts must continue, said the governor. However, when pressed about alternatives, he said only “We’ll reveal those [contingency plans] as we go forward.”

Analysis

It’s a battle that has been ongoing for nearly 20 years and Georgia is still no closer to getting its own way. In that time, the state could have begun building new reservoirs that it could have sole access to; alternative sources could have been found, such as with Roswell’s decision to dig wells. The ridiculous Tennessee question – where the Constitution places part of the Tennessee River in Georgia, but convention and government maps place it entirely outside of Georgia – might even have been pursued further. Water conservation could have begun earlier and proactive solutions, such as the use of rain barrels for irrigation, could have saved millions of gallons of water annually for those 20 years.

None of this was ever done because of the bullheaded arrogance asserting that, since the reservoir exists in Georgia, it belongs to Georgia. Reservoirs are federally managed and serve multi-state areas; Georgia has never had sole ownership – never had and never will. The legal fees alone by now probably add up to more than the cost of a new reservoir in 1975.

After such a stunning blow, to rely simply on pursuing the matter further and refusing to seriously consider alternatives is amazingly short-sighted. Even for politicians.