Florida Resists Georgia Drought Proposal

(AP)  Allowing Georgia to fight drought by slowing water flow into Florida would imperil commercial fishing along the Florida Panhandle, Gov. Charlie Crist argued in a letter to President Bush.

Crist urged Bush not to let Georgia move forward with a water-saving plan to slow the flow from reservoirs into rivers that eventually reach Florida.

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has sued to try to force the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to curb the release of water from North Georgia lakes into rivers that make their way to the Gulf of Mexico through the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola River basin. The corps controls water releases in the basin.

Georgia officials want to reduce the depletion of reservoir levels into early next year, so that no more water flows out than is coming in.

But doing so would hurt the Apalachicola River and Apalachicola Bay "resulting in a profound disruption of the socio-economic foundation in Florida's Panhandle region," Crist wrote in the letter dated Wednesday.

Florida, Alabama and Georgia have been in a dispute for years over how to manage the supply of water that flows down from North Georgia into the other two states on its way to the gulf. As metro Atlanta has grown the problem has grown too - with one of the major lakes in that area, Lake Lanier, serving as the main source of drinking water for the city.

Now, the problem is exacerbated by a drought that is gripping much of the Southeast, and is so bad in Georgia that officials ordered state agencies and public utilities to reduce usage, and have banned outdoor watering in most of the state.

Crist said Florida, Alabama and Georgia need to work together on more research into alternative water sources, noting that Florida has been studying desalinization and additional conservation programs.

Officials from the Corps of Engineers didn't respond to a request for comment.

Forecasters have predicted a dry winter, bad news because it could take months of above-average rainfall to replenish the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river basin.

Also Thursday, top Georgia lawmakers unveiled legislation that calls for building a network of new reservoirs in north Georgia to protect against future drought.

And North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley testified before a congressional committee on how the drought has hurt the state's crops and livestock. He appealed to lawmakers to send money to drought-ravaged farms in his state.

[johnp31]

Sorry about the the multiple posts. Technical problems between the chair and the computer.

[johnp31]

I second the previous comment. I live in Pennsylvania, we get our water from the Delaware river. There are reservoirs in New York state that are fed by the Delaware. These reservoirs supply water to NYC. As soon
as there''s a hint of a drought water restrictions kick in for the whole basin. I never heard anyone in NYC suggest that they cut the flow of water to the Delaware river. We start conserving water before the reservoirs are running low!

[johnp31]

I second the previous comment. I live in Pennsylvania, we get our water from the Delaware river. There are reservoirs in New York state that are fed by the Delaware. These reservoirs supply water to NYC. As soon
as there''s a hint of a drought water restrictions kick in for the whole basin. I never heard anyone in NYC suggest that they cut the flow of water to the Delaware river. We start conserving water before the reservoirs are running low!

[johnp31]

I second the previous comment. I live in Pennsylvania, we get our water from the Delaware river. There are reservoirs in New York state that are fed by the Delaware. These reservoirs supply water to NYC. As soon
as there''s a hint of a drought water restrictions kick in for the whole basin. I never heard anyone in NYC suggest that they cut the flow of water to the Delaware river. We start conserving water before the reservoirs are running low!

[johnp31]

I second the previous comment. I live in Pennsylvania, we get our water from the Delaware river. There are reservoirs in New York state that are fed by the Delaware. These reservoirs supply water to NYC. As soon
as there''s a hint of a drought water restrictions kick in for the whole basin. I never heard anyone in NYC suggest that they cut the flow of water to the Delaware river. We start conserving water before the reservoirs are running low!

[lloydbest1]

I don''t live anywher near Georgia, or Florida either, but from the tenor of these posts I can already see a symptom of what will be a major problem in the all-too-near future....
We have too many people competing for too little resource. Since I am an outsider I want to be very careful here about butting in but I grew up in New York during a six year drought in the mid sixties that so thoroughly seared the Northeast that even today, forty and some years later, if you want a glass of water in a restaurant you have to ask for one - and sometimes you have to pay for it!
Here''s what we did:
1. Flushed our johns once per day. Some of us put bricks in the tanks.
2. Refrained from watering our lawns.
3. Watered our gardens with used dish or laundry water.
3. Shut down the community swimming pool. I remember being really p*ssed about that.
4. Cut down our showers to once per week. That was a real hardship during our hot summers.
5. Our community enacted an ordinance severely restricting washing cars.
6. Turned off outdoor fountains, quit washing the streets, put restrictions on irrigation and so on.
We turned it around eventually; and eventually the rains returned. But it was still a very near run thing. My father had a rainguage in the back yard. the long term average rainfall for our town was 48 inches per year. In 1965 we got 16; it wasn''t pretty.
Hope some of this helps. And if it doesn''t, the rest of the nation will find a way to help. America will take care of its own.

[gramto7]

P.S. GA isn''t the only state in the area experiencing drought. AL and the panhandle of FL have been hit as well. Just guess where the water from our rivers in GA flow to..... By the time they reach the Gulf they should be fairly good sized.... but not anymore.

[gramto7]

I live in Ga. and could care less about there commercial fishing they rely on Ga. water let them pay for it dearly or take care of there own states problems not free load.

Posted by crzmeat

I also live in GA, just out from Blue Ridge. The water in Lake Lanier comes from rivers that flow from TN, NC, and SC. So perhaps they should do to GA as you suggest we do to FL!

[ne_patriot7]

Hey Blackbug99, what part of conserve and share did you not understand.... moron..

[blackbug99]

This is a drought... hoarding will only cause resentments... conserve and share what you have...Posted by ne_patriot7

Moron, they didn''t say they wouldn''t share...But doesn''t cooperation begin on both sides. In a drought they shouldn''t be expected to keep flowing the same amount of water as if there were no problem. Supply and demand should share the burden. BTW, Patriots lose this year.