Anniston Star: Water, water everywhere, but statewide it needs managing, these groups say

With persistent droughts and battles over supply among states, two environmental groups agree the time is now for Alabama to improve protection and management of its water resources.

The Alabama Rivers Alliance and the Southern Environmental Law Center released a report Wednesday, stressing the Alabama Legislature should develop a comprehensive statewide water management plan. The lack of such a plan, the groups argue, has made Alabama more vulnerable to threats from nature and to neighboring states’ demands.

A recent federal court ruling in the Alabama-Georgia-Florida “water wars” lawsuit was a major setback for Alabama, which has long sought to compel Georgia to release more water from Lake Lanier into the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint basin to meet the needs of southeastern Alabama.

The report, which the groups plan to send to Gov. Robert Bentley and every state legislator in the coming weeks, also argues the state should better enforce its water pollution prevention laws through policy changes and increased funding to watchdog agencies.

The Alabama Rivers Alliance is a statewide organization working to defend and restore Alabama’s rivers by advocating for creation of water policy, organizing at the grassroots level and teaching citizens how they can protect their water.

The Southern Environmental Law Center is a regional conservation organization using the power of the law to protect the health and environment of the Southeast.

Gil Rogers, Atlanta-based senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said other southeastern states such as Georgia and South Carolina have had water-management plans for years, and it was time Alabama had one as well.

“One of my concerns is Alabama is falling behind,” Rogers said. “Nobody really knows how much need Alabama has for water or how much it has. We need to know these things before more regulation and conservation efforts can begin. And as we continue to have skirmishes with neighbors, it will be even more important for Alabama to demonstrate it has a sound plan.”

Mitch Reid, program director for Alabama Rivers Alliance, said a comprehensive plan is extremely important, especially when dealing with droughts, such as the one currently plaguing much of the state.

“We have got to have a plan for allocating water fairly,” Reid said. “We’re living in the ‘wild West’ of water management … right now if you have the biggest straw and live upstream, you can pretty much take as much as you want.”

James Hariston, emeritus professor of agronomy and soils and an extension water quality scientist at Auburn University, agreed that some type of statewide water management plan is needed.

“You’ll always have conflicts between states, but they’ll resolve much faster or not arise if you had planning,” Hariston said. “It would help any state to have a plan and know where water is going and how to manage it.”

Alabama Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, said he would be open to a type of water management plan.

“I’m for anything that protects resources in the state,” Marsh said. “I think it would be smart to have a comprehensive water plan.”

Both environmental groups agree that Alabama has many good water pollution prevention laws, but add that many of them are not being enforced. They argue more funding should be allocated to the state’s environmental agency, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, to protect the state’s waterways.

“ADEM understands the message and we have seen movement … the number of enforcements have gone up in the past year,” Reid said. “But we need to make sure they can actually do the jobs they are asked to do.”

The report says pollution fines should be pumped back into ADEM instead of the state’s general fund to increase enforcement funding.

Water pollution is a problem across the state, including Calhoun County.

“The Anniston-Oxford area has its fair share of issues … obviously PCB contamination is still an issue,” said Frank Chitwood of Coosa Riverkeeper, a non-profit organization focused on clean-water advocacy in the Coosa River Basin of Alabama.

The Monsanto Company plant in Anniston produced toxic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, for decades, contaminating much of the surrounding area.

Chitwood added that urban sprawl in the Oxford area has led to runoff contamination in surrounding streams and creeks.

“One of the main things you see is with that is mud from construction sites,” he said. “That’s certainly not good for our creeks and rivers.”

The county’s largest body of water, Neely Henry Lake off the Coosa River, also has pollution problems that might be less serious today with better enforcement.

Lynn Sisk, who oversees water quality in the water division of ADEM, said Neely Henry has been on the agency’s pollution watch list for many years.

“It’s still listed for PCBs in fish tissue,” Sisk said. “There is a fish consumption advisory for the lake.”

Still, Hariston argues that Alabama’s efforts to curb pollution have come a long way in the last 30 years.

“Alabama does not put in as much effort as many other states, but it has done better since the 1970s,” Hariston said. “We’re better at controlling point sources … treatment plants have been upgraded and there are tons of education programs. It’s much better than it was 10 years ago and 20 years ago, but there are a lot of things that can still be done.”

Star staff writer Patrick McCreless: 256-235-3561.