Georgia Water Coalition

See these websites for background information:

Georgia Statewide
Water Planning

Georgia Water Council

Town Hall Meetings
Link to dates and locations

STATEWIDE WATER PLANNING

Water Plan Passed by Both Houses

On Friday, January 18, 2008, just five days into the 40 day legislative session, the House and Senate both passed resolutions adopting the Water

Council Water Plan. As stated in earlier updates and alerts, the Water Council Water Plan has problems that need to be fixed. The Georgia Water Coalition will now work with the legislature to fix these problems through various legislative means:

Regional Planning Districts: The Water Plan districts are drawn along political boundaries instead of natural watershed boundaries. The Georgia Water Coalition will continue to work with legislators to get planning done along watershed boundaries.

Interbasin Transfers (IBTs): Current law provides no protection for downstream communities against IBTs; the director of EPD merely has to issue a press release before allowing such a transfer. The water plan only states that the Board of Natural Resources “should consider” amending its rules to state that EPD “should” consider certain factors related to transfers. The Georgia Water Coalition will work with legislators to get statutory fixes that will protect communities from Interbasin Transfers.

No requirements for conservation or efficiency: The water plan has few actual “requirements” and instead says that the state “should” or “may” pursue important conservation or efficiency tools. The Georgia Water Coalition will work with legislators to get mandatory requirements for conservation and efficiency.

The Georgia Water Coalition will continue to work with legislators to deal with these critical issues to protect rivers, communities, and our future water supply.

Click here to see how your legislators voted on the water plan:
House: www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2007_08/votes/hv0497.htm
Senate: www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2007_08/votes/sv0520.htm

GWC Factsheet on the draft statewide water plan

Timeline of Past Events

GWC Comments on the Draft Plan - 12/12/07On June 28, 2007 the Water Council met to formally receive the draft water plan from EPD.

GWC Comment Letter to the Georgia Water Council- 8/07

Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker's letter to Dr. Carol Couch stating his opinion that the Comprehensive Statewide Water Management Plan should not be promulgated as a rule (August 21, 2007).

A Revised Draft Comprehensive Statewide Water Management Plan was issued September 13, 2007.

Water Plan changes approved by the Water Council on 11/06/07

Public Comment
The public comment period was December 3-13, 2007. The public hearing phase began in October. EPD hosted a second round of town hall meetings December 10-12. For a list of the hearing locations and dates click here. The Water council met in December to approve revisions and in January to act on the final draft of the statewide water plan. You can review comments submitted on the plan at www.georgiawaterplan.org.

Archive Information and Documents:

The Georgia Water Coalition has submitted white papers on all four of the statewide water planning management objectives. Listed below are the Georgia Water Coalition's white paper, EPD's discussion packet, and the Carl Vinson Institute's white paper for each of the management objectives.

Sub-state Planning GuidanceIntegrating Water Quantity and Water Quality Policies

Management Objective #4: Protect Water Quality:

Management Objective #3: Instream and off stream demands:

GWC White Paper: Georgia�s Statewide Management Plan: Meeting Instream and Offstream Demands
EPD's Discussion Packet: Meeting instream and offstream demands through efficient surface storage and aquifer management
UGA's Carl Vinson Institute of Government document titled "Balancing Instream and Offstream Uses

Water Quantity Framework: Consumptive Use Budgets:The Water Quantity framework integrates the first two management objectives (to minimize withdrawals through conservation and reuse and to maximize returns to the basin of origin) and creates the new concept of Consumptive Use Budgets (CUBs).

Management Objective #2: Maximizing Returns:

Management Objective #1: Minimizing Withdrawals:

News:Don't favor Atlanta, advocates tell water council. Coastal concerns include desalination, aquifer storage and recovery

May 2007 Georgia Trend article "Water Worries: With Georgia's rapid population growth threatening its water supply - Atlanta could be in trouble as early as 2030 - conservation is on everyone's mind. Some are betting the time is right for desalination projects to turn seawater into drinking water." by Jerry Grillo. Follow this link to the article or click here to download a pdf of the article (6mb).

Additional Documents:

Water Council: Schedule of Meetings and Supporting DocumentsMaterials for October 16th Water Council Meeting

Technical Advisory Committees: Supporting Documents

Water Conservation
Water Reuse
Interbasin Transfers
Septic Systems
Instream Flow
Water Supply Reservoirs
Aquifer Storage & Recovery
Point Source Loadings Reductions/Redistributions
Non-point Source Loading

Basin Advisory Committees: Supporting Documents

Revised Basin Advisory Committee Groupings map