Boyd wants protection for Apalachicola River

Florida Congressman Allen Boyd says the federal government will keep the pressure on Georgia, Alabama and Florida to revive talks about their critical water-sharing issue.

He says transparency on the part of all those involved and the input of local stakeholders are necessary to develop a “responsible and workable solution to address the region’s water needs.”

Boyd, D-North Florida, testified before the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment in Washington Tuesday, along with two Georgia congressman, John Lewis and Hank Johnson.

Also testifying about issues for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River System and Basin were three state and local leaders from Florida and Georgia and a panel of four from federal agencies.

Among those attending the hearing was Chad Taylor, the Jackson County representative on the Apalachicola River Riparian County Stateholders Coalition.

Several of those speaking, including Boyd, expressed dismay that the states’ governors did not attend.

“The federal government will keep pressure on the three states to renew tri-state negotiations,” Boyd said after the hearing. It had served to get the issue raised to a higher level, he said, “and it is my hope that this will be the first of many more hearings and discussions on water supply planning in the Southeast.”

In an opening statement, the subcommittee’s ranking Republican member, Congressman John Boozeman, R-Arkansas, said he hoped the hearing would be about solutions, not a description of the problem, and Boyd began by referencing that as “right on.”

The states have taken nearly 20 years to talk about water sharing and now in a years-long drought the problem is so critical that a short-term agreement must be reached as well as a long-term one, Boyd said.

Boyd encouraged:

• The use of independent and local experts to determine water flows that the Apalachicola River and Bay need to maintain their productivity;

• Setting limits on water use with the Tri-State Basin – for example, capping the water use to ensure meeting the river flow requirements;

• Assessing the water conservation potential among all users in the basin – agricultural, municipal and industrial – and determining the most cost-effective
investments and who will pay for them;

• Embodying these agreements in a Tri-State Compact with strong enforcement mechanisms.

Georgia is fighting to hold back more water in federal reservoirs around Atlanta to serve the metro area’s growing population. Florida and Alabama argue that that would dry up river flows that support smaller cities, power plants, fisheries and industries, in addition to damaging the environment.

Boyd blamed Georgia for not having water supply management like Florida has had since 1972 when it created five water management districts, gave them broad statutory authority, and charged them with developing regional water supply plans.

“If you go to apply for a building permit, you have to show water availability,” he said.

“In stark contrast,” he said, “Georgia has allowed for unbridled development with little or no thought of its increased water needs until recently.”

Speaking before Boyd in the hearing, Lewis said he would later that day introduce legislation to order the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prepare a comprehensive water management study for the Southeast because, while the Corps’ 40-year-old water release manual must be rewritten, that would take “at least three years to complete” and “the time is now” for the Southeast’s manual because “it’s not meeting needs.”

Lewis, an Atlanta resident, led a push by the Georgia delegation to get this week’s hearing on what has aggravated the drought and what must be done to resolve the problem.

“We must think of this as an opportunity,” Lewis said in a press release before the hearing, “to bring together important stakeholders and hear exactly what is going on and what needs to change to better manage such a precious resource.”

In the hearing, Boozeman called the water problem “one of the most important economic situations” facing the southeast, and Lewis and Johnson told of jobs lost in Georgia and what their state is doing to reduce its water consumption.

Johnson called it “deplorable” that federal agencies hadn’t adequately worked together during “the worst drought in recorded history” and said “Atlanta has a tenuous system of water.”

Robert Hunter, commissioner of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management, told of (North Georgia’s) Lake Lanier being 13 feet lower than usual and that for the 5 million people in metro Atlanta “the need for action is immediate.”

He said the plan for the Jim Woodruff Dam – on Jackson County’s eastern border – is not sufficient.

“The problem is not a shortage of water, it’s how we manage the water,” he said.

He told of Atlanta’s current “virtual ban on outdoor water use” and urgent repair of leaks and other conservation measures, and said that while customers had recently increased, water use had declined.

But still, he said, “The Corps needs to stop over-releases ... . The amount of water wasted equals twice what Atlanta needs.”

Kevin Begos, executive director of the Franklin County (Florida) Oyster & Seafood Industry Task Force, testified that the entire ecosystem of the Apalachicola is damaged as well as the lives of the people along the river. He urged moving from “closed door negotiations to transparency,” and said, “We need a new look at the whole impact on the Apalachicola Bay.”

Tim Burch, a board member of the Georgia Peanut Commission and a Baker County commissioner, testified of how the drought had “dramatically impacted agriculture,” and coupled with energy costs was devastating agricultural counties that had no other industry.

“Georgia farmers support more reservoirs, aquifer storage and desalination,” he said, as “irrigation will continue to expand or farmers will not be in business.”