Tri-State Water Wars

Welcome to the Tri-State Water Wars Resource Center. This section of the website is designed for interested citizens, elected officials, the news media and other stakeholders, within the region and beyond. It includes information and documents about the range of issues connected to the tri-state water litigation. Topics include:

Overview of the Tri-State Litigation 

The tri-state litigation involves eight cases in two district courts. Seven of those cases concern issues in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) basin and one concerns issues in the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT) basin. 

  • The dispute includes Lake Lanier, which is located in the ACF basin, and Lake Allatoona, which is located in the ACT basin. 
  • The ACF litigation involves Florida, Georgia and Alabama. 
  • The ACT litigation involves Georgia and Alabama. 
  • The seven cases concerning the ACF basin were consolidated and assigned to the United States District Court in Jacksonville to be heard by a retired chief judge from Minnesota, Judge Paul Magnuson. 
  • Judge Magnuson separated the case into two phases. The first phase deals with the challenge to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ authority to operate Lake Lanier for water supply and recreation (ruling issued July 17, 2009).
  • The second phase deals with the Endangered Species Act and its impact on water supply and allocation. Briefs due December 9.
  • The case concerning issues in the ACT basin was stayed to allow the states to negotiate in good faith. 

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Recent Federal Court Ruling (July 17, 2009)

  • Based on his interpretation of Congressional action in 1946, Judge Magnuson ruled that the only authorized purposes for Lake Lanier are hydropower, flood control and navigation. 
  • Judge Magnuson has given a window of three years to obtain approval from Congress for the operational changes that are necessary to allow water from Lake Lanier to continue to be used for water supply purposes. 
  • Failure to gain this approval from Congress in the next three years will result in the operation of Buford Dam reverting to “base line” operations of the mid-1970s. 
  • Memorandum and Order of the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, In re Tri-State Water Rights Litigation (PDF)

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ARC’s Position on the July 17 Ruling

  • Returning metro Atlanta’s water withdrawals in three years to mid-1970s levels would present a public health and safety threat to the 3 million people of metro Atlanta who depend on Lake Lanier for water supply. Downstream communities would be harmed as well. 
  • It would also impact the economy of the entire Southeastern United States. 
  • ARC supports efforts to negotiate an agreement for the equitable allocation of water among the three states. 
  • Once an agreement is reached, it is imperative that Congress act quickly to head off this potential calamity. 
  • There is enough water in the ACF basin to meet the reasonable needs of all users if the reservoirs are managed properly and if all users practice best-in-class conservation. 
  • Remarks by ARC Chairman Sam Olens to the Council for Quality Growth, August 14, 2009 (PDF)

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Sources of Water in Metro Atlanta

  • Metro Atlanta obtains 99 percent of its water supply from rivers, lakes and streams. 
  • Groundwater cannot be a major source of supply because the bedrock is nonporous hard rock, like Stone Mountain granite. 
  • Rainfall is variable, from as low as 30 inches per year to as high as 70 inches per year, with an average of 50 inches per year. 
  • There are no natural lakes in North Georgia. Therefore, metro Atlanta must use man-made reservoirs to store water during rainy periods to use during dry times and drought. 
  • There are two federal reservoirs that are used for water supply in metro Atlanta: Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona. 
    Lake Lanier is located in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin. 
  • Lake Allatoona is located in the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT) River Basin 
  • Three million residents in metro Atlanta rely on Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River as their source of drinking water; a half million metro Atlantans depend on Lake Allatoona. 
  • Gwinnett and Forsyth counties and the cities of Gainesville, Buford and Cumming withdraw water directly from Lake Lanier. 
  • City of Atlanta, Atlanta-Fulton County Water Resources Commission, DeKalb County and the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority withdraw water from the Chattahoochee River, south of Lake Lanier. 
  • The Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority and the City of Cartersville withdraw water from Lake Allatoona. These utilities serve residents of Bartow, Cobb and Paulding counties in northwestern metro Atlanta.

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Facts about the ACF Basin

  • The Army Corps of Engineers operates five reservoirs on the Chattahoochee River: Lake Lanier, West Point Lake, Lake Walter F. Georgia, Andrews Lock and Dam and Lake Seminole.
  • Lake Lanier is the northernmost federal reservoir in the ACF Basin. It sits at the top of the basin and is a headwaters reservoir.
  • Its location in the basin limits how much water it can capture and store.
  • Lake Lanier has only 5.3 percent of the ACF Basin land area above it, so it controls only a smal part of the rain that falls in the basin.
  • Although Lanier is a large reservoir and represents 60 percent of the storage in the federal system, it controls only 9 percent of the total river flows above the Florida state line.
  • It is not possible to drought proof an entire basin with a reservoir that controls less than 9% of the basin’s flow.
  • Flows at the Florida line are 11 times greater than at Buford Dam, because most of the streams in the basin enter the system downstream of the dam.
  • Nearly three quarters of the population in the ACF basin (72 percent) resides in metro Atlanta.

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Metro Atlanta’s Water Use

 Net Consumptive Use (during non-drought)
 Upper Chattahoochee*  Middle and Lower Chattahoochee
 125 mgd                              143 mgd
 194 cfs  222 cfs
 0.9% of average annual flow           1% of average annual flow

*Lanier-dependent withdrawers

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Water Conservation in Metro Atlanta

  • The Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District was created in 2001. Its first series of plans were adopted in 2003. These plans were recently updated and adopted in May of 2009.
  • There are 15 counties, 91 cities and 61 water systems in the Metro Water District. No where else in the country brings together this many local governments and utilities to plan and implement the same set of water conservation measures. Implementation is required, and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division enforces compliance with the plans through its auditing and permitting processes.
  • The Metro Water District's Water Supply and Water Conservation Plan includes 12 water conservation measures:
    • Implement conservation pricing.
    • Implement a program to replace older, inefficient toilets.
    • Educate food services on retrofitting with low-flow pre-rinse spray valves.
    • Require rain sensor shut-off switches on new irrigation systems.
    • Require sub-unit meters in new multi-family buildings.
    • Assess water loss annually and implement program to reduce water system leakage.
    • Provide residential water audit information to residential customers.
    • Distribute low-flow retrofit kits to residential customers.
    • Provide commercial water audits; target high water users.
    • Implement education and public awareness plan.
    • Install High Efficiency Toilets and Urinals in government buildings.
    • Require new car washes to recycle water.
  • 2001 billing data established water use in the Metro Water District to be 168 gallons per capita per day (gpcd). GPCD computed by dividing total water demand by Metro Water District's population. It includes commercial, industrial, institutional as well as residential uses.
  • Data collected in 2006 shows water use to have been reduced to 151 gpcd, or10 percent.
  • By 2035, the Metro Water District's plan projects that water use will drop to 135 gpcd, a 20 percent reduction over 2001 levels.

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Statewide Water Planning

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Speeches, Presentations and Op-Ed Articles

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Editorials and News Stories

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Links

  • ACF Stakeholders Group. This grassroots organization representd stakeholders in the ACF basin who are seeking ways to work together and exploring possible solutions to the tri-state conflict.