| Wednesday, 26 August 2009 16:17 |
On Tuesday Governor Sonny Perdue met privately with several of Georgia's environmentalist groups to give them a run down on the state's response to this summer's federal water ruling and in an effort to work together to find solutions to the crisis. He also outlined the state's appeal plans, its negotiation position with Alabama and Florida, its strategy to convince Congress to authorize Lake Lanier as a metro Atlanta water supply source, as well as other contingency plans.
Members of the Georgia Water Coalition and the Coosa River Basin Initiative were in attendance and are optimistic about participating in the state's water policy despite some disagreements with the Governor's plan.
Arguing that it's the fastest and cheapest way to secure the water supply, the environmentalist groups would like to see more of an emphasis on water conservation in the policy instead of relying as heavily on building more reservoirs, which could take years to implement. They also argue that river basin transfers would stress other systems and possibly shift the crisis to another area of the state.
Rome’s Joe Cook, executive director of the Coosa River Basin Initiative, estimates that aggressive water conservation methods could save the state as much as 200 million gallons of water a day.
If an agreement is not reached within three years, the amount of water available to be withdrawn for metro Atlanta from Lanier will revert to 1970's levels, slipping from the current 350 million gallons a day to 230 million gallons. |
