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Is Atlanta sucking the south dry?
Georgia's Lake Lanier
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TEXT OF STORY
Bill Radke: Atlanta has been called the "capital of the south." It's home to Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Home Depot. Its population has more than doubled in the last 30 years. But neighboring states say as Atlanta grows, other parts of the south are drying up. Tanya Ott has our story.
Tanya Ott: For nearly two decades Georgia, Florida and Alabama have fought over how much water Atlanta can drain from nearby Lake Lanier to fuel its sprawling metro area. Critics say there may not be enough water downstream to cool power plants in Alabama or protect oyster beds in Florida.
It's a tri-state water war and a war of words. Georgia governor Sonny Perdue says he'll "fight to the death" in what Alabama governor Bob Riley calls Atlanta's "massive illegal water grab."
Charles Krautler, director of the Atlanta Regional Commission, says the other states may just be jealous of Atlanta's economy:
Charles Krautler: I think that there has been a perception that if there is some mechanism that limits Atlanta's future growth that that might open opportunities for other areas.
But Cindy Lowry of the environmental group Alabama Rivers Alliance says she doesn't know why anyone would be jealous of Atlanta's growth:
Cindy Lowry: It provides a lot of challenges environmentally, economically, in all sorts of ways.
In July, a federal judge ruled that Atlanta was not authorized to take drinking water from Lake Lanier. If the three states don't come to an agreement, Congress may step in. And that makes this an issue for everyone, not just the south. There are similar reservoirs in 27 other states.
In Birmingham, Ala., I'm Tanya Ott for Marketplace.
As a native Atlantan and an environmentalist I agree with you that no one should be envious of our growth. However, I believe your political and media leaders are jealous of the prosperity growth brings.
Hydrologists agree on two things: there is plenty of water in the ACF system and, Atlanta only consumes about 1% of it.
It's that simple. The "water war" is a smokescreen created by Alabama to hurt Atlanta's image in the hope growth will spread their way. Witness Governor Riley's first comment after the water ruling: "This decision...will be an economic boon for our state."
Being someone associated with rivers, don't you find it at least a little unfair that Alabama would press a judge to rule that Georgia cannot use any of the water from its own springs and rainfall, and instead must save that water for Alabama and Florida?
This is a very complicated issue. But at its heart is whether the residents of North Georgia have a right to use the water that falls as rain in our community or whether, because Congress dammed our largest rivers in the 40s and did not list water consumption as a specified use, the residents of Alabama and Florida have equal claim to the same water. Since Alabama and the Florida panhandle are blessed with many rivers flowing through their territory (many of which start in Georgia and Tenn) they do not need additional water. North Georgia has two significant rivers. They are both dammed by Corps of Engineers dams that were approved by Congress for uses other than local recreation and water use. Either we 1) build a lot more dams, 2) get access to our local water or 3) 1/2 of the population of Atlanta has to move elsewhere in the country. It seems to me that #2 is the only viable option.
