Georgia officials take over water test project
By RAY HENRY, Associated Press
Published 9:26 am, Wednesday, May 15, 2013
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ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia officials will lead a project testing whether water stored underground can be used to supplement drought-stricken waterways after the local agency managing the project pulled out, state officials said Wednesday.

The Georgia Environmental Finance Authority will start advertising Thursday for firms interested in designing and building a well system testing the water storage concept in southwest Georgia, authority spokesman Shane Hix said. Companies already involved in the project will have to reapply.

That decision came after the Southwest Georgia Regional Commission sent the state a letter Tuesday announcing it was pulling out of the project slated for the Chickasawhatchee Creek at the Elmodel Wildlife Management Area, roughly 50 miles north of Florida.

“As we have been working with you to further develop this project, it became obvious that the selected demonstration project is crucial to our region but also has importance outside our region,” Robert McDaniel, the commission’s executive director, wrote. “Upon reflection of this importance, we believe the demonstration project should proceed as a State of Georgia project rather than a SWGRC project.”

Gov. Nathan Deal’s administration had awarded the local commission roughly $5 million to test the concept so officials could decide whether it could be used more widely.

Supporters of the concept, called aquifer storage and recovery, say it could protect drought-threatened wildlife in the Flint River basin or, on a much larger scale, make sure Alabama and Florida get enough water to help resolve a long-running water dispute over metro Atlanta’s water consumption.

The project has opponents. Similar wells in Florida contaminated water with arsenic, a problem that project backers say can be fixed. Opponents of the project have also said that water from southwest Georgia should not be tapped for the benefit of metro Atlanta and that conserving water is cheaper than building storage systems. A bill to change Georgia’s law on water rights in ways favorable to the storage wells failed this year in the General Assembly.

Ga. avoids limit on reservoir use in Senate bill
By RAY HENRY, Associated Press
Updated 3:01 pm, Wednesday, May 15, 2013

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia legislators thwarted on Wednesday an attempt by Alabama and Florida to limit how much water metro Atlanta and North Georgia can take from federal reservoirs.

The U.S. Senate voted 83-14 to approve a changed version of the Water Resources Development Act without including an earlier restriction backed by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. That restriction would have undercut an appellate court decision finding that metro Atlanta can legally take water from Lake Lanier on the Chattahoochee River. The ruling prevented a water crisis for Georgia and proved a major legal setback for Alabama and Florida.

Lake Lanier is part of a system formed by the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint rivers that serves all three states. Georgia wants more water from Lake Lanier to serve a growing population. Alabama and Florida have opposed the request, arguing that metro Atlanta uses too much water upstream, leaving too little for downstream communities, industry and wildlife. Alabama and Georgia have a separate conflict over the watershed formed by the Alabama, Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers.

Instead of restricting water use, the bill now urges the governors of the three states to negotiate a resolution. The legislation states that Congress may take further action if the dispute remains unresolved, a nonbinding reference that Georgia officials want to defeat.

Georgia Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, both Republicans, praised the bill in a statement for allowing a harbor-deepening project in Savannah to proceed, only vaguely referencing the water dispute.

“While I remain concerned with other provisions in the bill, it is my hope that these can be remedied as the legislative process moves forward,” Chambliss said.

Under the plan supported by Sessions, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would have been forced to seek congressional approval anytime a request for municipal or industrial water cumulatively changed the storage plans for a federal reservoir by 5 percent or more. Water providers say Georgia has exceeded that threshold at both Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona. Given the political feud between the states, it was uncertain whether Congress would have approved giving Georgia more water.

San Francisco Chronicle-By RAY HENRY, Associated Press
Updated 3:01 pm, Wednesday, May 15, 2013

That restriction was probably intended to pressure Georgia into bargaining more intensely in the tri-state dispute. Since Georgia won in the appellate court, its leaders have faced less pressure to cut a deal.

“This complex issue is best resolved through reasonable negotiations among the Governors of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, and this provision helps moves those discussions forward,” Sessions said in a statement.

The restriction on water use would have affected all federal reservoirs, though it would have carried immediate consequences in the Southeast. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tried unsuccessfully on behalf of the Alabama and Florida delegations to restore the water restriction after Georgia’s Senate delegation had it struck from the bill. Rubio said resolving the dispute would end the damage that low water levels have inflicted on the oyster fishery in Apalachicola Bay and other industries.

The conflict may resurface when the House of Representatives drafts its version of the water bill. A dozen members of Georgia’s House delegation have signed a joint letter asking the leaders of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure not to support any rules “that could be viewed as taking sides in this interstate dispute,” the letter said.

___

Follow Ray Henry on Twitter: http://twitter.com/rhenryAP.

SOS – Save Our Suwannee

PO Box 669, Bell, FL 32619

October 7, 2012

 PRESS RELEASE (for immediate release)

 Meeting:     

 Anticipated Impacts of Sea Level Rise

on Ecosystems of the Nature Coast

                                        PowerPoint presentation

     By Whitney Gray,  

     Sea Level Rise Outreach Coordinator, FWC

 When:         Thursday October 18th, 2012 – 7:00 PM – no admission

Open to the public – light refreshments served afterward

Where:        Unity Church of Gainesville 8801 NW 39th Avenue

(One half mile east of Interstate 75 on 39^th Ave)

 Sponsor      Save Our Suwannee (A not for profit 501 (c) 3)

It is a well documented fact that sea level rise has already begun. See the documentation in this FWC presentation. As the trend accelerates how far inland could sea level rise potentially intrude affecting wildlife and human communities?  See stunning charts and graphs clearly laying out the historic data; as well as a range of future projections from low end to high end.  This presentation is sure to get you thinking about what we can do individually and as a community to help slow the process.

For more info please contact Barbara Ferguson, SOS Board Member, at 386-965-0901.

We started our own Youtube account and have started adding educational videos for the public to view.  We hope by using this popular venue we can reach a much bigger audience.

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Save Our Suwannee, Inc