Washington --- Gov. Sonny Perdue and his counterparts from Alabama and Florida meet with Bush administration officials today in the latest attempt to settle the drought-induced tri-state water crisis.
A week ago Perdue, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist were publicly sparring over rights to Lanier, which provides most of metro Atlanta's drinking water. The water also supports downstream communities and industry, including a large nuclear power plant in southeast Alabama. And it is the lifeblood of Apalachicola Bay's seafood industry and federally protected mussel species.
Georgia has been pressing federal officials to temporarily lift requirements of the Endangered Species Act and reduce the amount of water flowing out of the lake. Alabama and Florida want the corps to keep sending more than a billion gallons a day out of Lanier.
On Wednesday, U.S. Sens. Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions of Alabama, sent a letter to President Bush decrying Georgia's claims.
"If you were to grant this request [from Georgia], you would not be 'siding with people' instead of mussels and sturgeons," the Republican senators wrote. "You would be valuing the well-being of the people in Georgia over the citizens of Alabama and Florida.
The corps estimates Lanier has 120 days of readily available drinking water left. The state puts the count at only 80 days. Pumping out water from the bottom of the lake could extend supplies an additional five to six months, but it would be difficult and expensive to retrieve and treat that water.
"Given this extraordinary situation we're in, we're doing a new biological assessment to see ... if we can take that flow down and still protect the species," Payne said last week.
"But even if we get relief from the Endangered Species requirements, and we reduce the flow, Florida and Alabama are going to sue us. I base that on a historical analysis" of the 17-year tri-state feud, Payne said.
Georgia environmentalists say conservation is the real issue. At a Wednesday news conference at the Georgia Capitol, members of the Georgia Water Coalition, a group of 150 environmental and civic organizations, said that by using a few water-saving measures, metro Atlantans could save nearly 85 million gallons day, almost enough to supply DeKalb County.
The coalition also said government officials haven't taken the lead on getting 1 million older homes in metro Atlanta retrofitted with plumbing fixtures that use less water; that not enough has been done to fix leaky pipes; and that too many area homes are currently on septic tanks, which don't return water to rivers as promptly as sewer systems.