A riverkeeper organization and the Birmingham office of an environmental law group told the Alabama Legislature last week that there is now increased urgency for the state to draft a comprehensive statewide water plan.
There is indeed. And the pressure is coming from two fronts: Mother Nature, who is hinting broadly at another drought, and the federal judiciary, which recently handed Atlanta back its wide-bore straw for siphoning huge amounts of Chattahoochee River water out of Lake Lanier.
Federal Judge Paul Magnuson ruled almost exactly two years ago that because Buford Dam was a federal project of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, supplying Atlanta’s water demands was not among Lake Lanier’s legally designated purposes. He gave the state of Georgia three years to reach an agreement with downriver neighbors Alabama and Florida before Atlanta’s tap would presumably be cut off.
Then-Gov. Sonny Perdue had the wisdom or maybe just the political shrewdness, and most likely some of both, to urge the state and its municipalities to put water conservation measures in place. When it came time to negotiate with Alabama and Florida, or maybe just to head back to court to buy more time, Georgia would need to demonstrate responsible stewardship of a shared resource.
But two weeks ago the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals, acting on what sounds more like presumption than precedent (“We know that Congress contemplated that water supply may have to be increased over time as the Atlanta area grows,” the court wrote), ruled that Atlanta is indeed entitled to Lanier’s waters.
Gov. Nathan Deal’s office called the ruling a “total victory” for Georgia, which of course it isn’t if you’re downriver from Atlanta.
In any event, the clock has stopped ticking on Magnuson’s deadline.
“Alabama is vulnerable right now,” said Keith Johnston, a Birmingham attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, “because it does not have a statewide water plan and it can hurt us in water negotiations in the future.” According to Cindy Lowry of the Alabama Rivers Alliance, the state is one of only a handful without a water resources management plan. “Alabama needs to take action before the next bad drought,” Lowry told lawmakers.
Over the years of this multi-state water debate, Alabama has fought — and justly so — for its rights; its responsibilities have not been prominent in the discussion. That’s hardly surprising; Alabama would not rank high on any credible honor roll of environmental leadership.
As curious and troublesome as the most recent court ruling might be (and not just in Alabama), increased pressure to address water issues other than how much comes down the river from Atlanta is not altogether a bad thing.
Insight from Cindy Lowry: As Georgia struggles, our most vital resource is at stake
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