Tri-State Issues

Map courtesy of Southern Environmental Law Center For the last 20 years, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida have waged a legal war, known as the Tri-State Water War, over the use of water in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin stemming largely from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) operation of Lake Lanier’s Buford Dam. Lake Lanier lies within the Chattahoochee’s headwaters, just north of Atlanta.

The Corps built the lake in the 1950s with Congressional authorization for flood-control, navigation, and hydropower. Over time, however, Lake Lanier has become the primary source of water supply for metro Atlanta, and Alabama and Florida have argued that Georgia withdraws too much and isn’t sharing the water fairly.  In July of 2009, a court ruled that water supply is not an authorized use of Lake Lanier, and gave Georgia three years to work out a solution to the water supply problem.

Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s mission is to protect and preserve the Chattahoochee River, its lakes, and tributaries for all those who depend upon it, upstream and downstream.  UCR has spent 15 years dealing with the issues surrounding this tri-state dispute, and we believe Georgia and its neighbors CAN SHARE THIS WATER FAIRLY. UCR offers common sense solutions to this conflict. Below are four of the most important things we should do.

1. Promote water efficiency first – The Chattahoochee River is a limited resource, and we must share and use it wisely. This would include the Georgia State Legislature adopting a package of conservation measures in 2010 and an aggressive program of leak detection and repair.
2. Seek congressional approval to use Lake Lanier for metro Atlanta water supply – UCR’s reading of the law, as confirmed by the recent court ruling, is that a congressional re-authorization of Lake Lanier will be necessary in order for metro Atlanta to continue relying upon it for water supply. Court battles continue to waste time and money and undermine much-needed trust between parties. 
3. Agree on the facts – We cannot reach an agreement when basic facts are in dispute as they are now in this conflict.  We must examine how much water we have and how much different users need, and be honest about metro Atlanta’s impact on the river system and water supply. We also must examine water quality (which is integrally connected to water quantity) throughout the basin so that we can maintain a healthy river system for people and wildlife
4. Build trust among people, communities, and stakeholders throughout the ACF basin – People and businesses in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida all depend on this water supply, and they all have a right to clean water. In order to move beyond the distrust and name-calling that has developed over years of conflict, we need negotiations and decision-making to be transparent and open to public debate and scrutiny.