Judge’s ruling goes against Corps

Judge Paul A. Magnuson ruled Friday that Georgia must cease withdrawing water from Lake Lanier within three years.

The reservoir is currently Atlanta’s main water supply.

Magnuson declared that the current U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operations in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system are contrary to the Water Supply Act, according to a news release from Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Monticello.

The judge upheld the ruling of the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court that found that congressional approval of the reallocation of storage in Lake Lanier is required, according to the news release.

“(Friday’s) ruling is a tremendous victory for our state — it echoes what Florida has been saying for years, which is that the Corps’ management of the ACF system has not been in compliance with the law,”  Boyd said.  “I look forward to working with the Corps to develop a responsible water management plan that adheres to the law and benefits all users along the ACF system.”

Boyd in Washington Friday continued his push for a comprehensive study of the ACF river system, by including language in the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, the news release said.
The act directs the Army Corps of Engineers to identify the needs, authorization, and additional funding necessary to initiate a comprehensive study of the ACF system.

Boyd’s news release said he included the language in the Energy and Water Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2010, which passed in the House of Representatives Friday, which would require the Army Corps of Engineers to report back to Congress an outline of a study based on a recent assessment by the National Research Council on the water issues in the ACF river basin. 

The NRC report, entitled “Summary of a Workshop on Water Issues in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint and Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACF-ACT) River Basins,” resulted from an April workshop on an NRC study of the ACF system, which included participants from Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.

“We may be experiencing a lot of rain now, but one thing is for sure:  another drought will come, and we have to have a system-wide water management plan in place that takes into account the real water needs of the riparian communities along the ACF system,” Boyd said. “This language will help us better understand the tools that the Corps needs to implement a more thorough, scientific study of the system, and I look forward to their report.”

The Corps will have 90 days after the enactment of the legislation to provide estimates of funding needs as well as additional authorization requirements to execute this study. The bill now awaits consideration by the Senate.