Are Georgia’s Water Wars Over?

The Apalachicola River meets the Gulf of Mexico.

Photo by Getty Images

In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a Florida motion to limit the amount of water Georgia can draw from a shared river basin — the latest and most significant development in a three-state battle over how to share the water flowing through them spanning both states and Alabama, a battle that has cost untold millions of dollars and sparked multiple lawsuits. The decision was widely seen as a victory for Georgia. So: are the water wars finally over?

“NO. You can just write one word and turn it in,” says Katherine Zitsch, director of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District and executive director of natural resources at the Atlanta Regional Commission, which litigated in the wars. (One of his jobs is that to work with the US Army Corps of Engineers on behalf of local governments on regional water issues.)

They are two major river basins: the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) and the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT), which empty into the Gulf of Mexico in Florida and Alabama, respectively. But they flow from Georgia, which draws water from both basins. The water wars began because the two downstream states felt they weren’t getting their share of the river’s bounty, especially given the rapid growth — and accompanying demand — of the Atlanta Metro. “Everyone is worried that at some point they won’t be getting enough water. This is especially evident during droughts: when river levels start to drop, these tensions flare up,” says Gil Rogers, director of the Georgia office of the Southern Environmental Law Center.

In 2008, representatives from all three states formed the ACF Stakeholders, which brought together representatives from various stakeholders—local government, environmentalists, utilities, farmers—to discuss how the region’s resources could be better managed. In 2015, the ACFS presented a plan to state and federal leaders — but by that time Florida had filed its lawsuit, so officials would not commit to the recommendations until the outcome was in.

Florida had claimed that Georgia’s withdrawals — for drinking water in metro Atlanta, agriculture in southwest Georgia, and industry everywhere — put pressure on the Apalachicola, the river formed by the convergence of the Flint and Chattahoochee. The Apalachicola supports a famous oyster industry in its estuary, which Florida says was damaged when Georgia took too much water during a 2012 drought. Florida couldn’t prove Georgia was directly responsible and lost its case — at least that’s how most people interpreted the verdict. Flint Riverkeeper executive director and warden Gordon Rogers sees it differently: “The water wars are over and Florida has won.”

Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. Rogers believes decades of water wars — both legal action and the specter of it — have prompted Georgia to push for more environmental protection in metropolitan areas and in the agricultural sector, which benefits everyone: “We’re going to be pushing a lot more water down the system during the.” next drought better than 20 years ago.” Metro Atlanta’s per capita water use has declined 30 percent since 2000 — despite a population growth of 1.3 million. “It’s not Metro Atlanta, it’s not Georgia — it’s a lack of rain,” says Zitsch. “It’s all these different things that come together.”

Over the past 20 years, Georgia has endured a series of droughts that the federal government describes as “extraordinary,” its most severe designation, and both droughts and major rainfall events are expected to increase in number and severity due to climate change. How can the region prepare? Zitsch suggested investigating ways to store more water in times of plenty to use during dry periods. Even starting with a single idea — like raising Lake Lanier by two feet — could bring people together to work together. “Sometimes it takes just that to get people into a room and then a conversation can start about what’s possible.” The key is to act before it’s necessary. “If we don’t think about 2070, it will creep up on us, even if it seems like a very long time,” says Zitsch.

Meanwhile, the water wars rage on: Alabama has two active lawsuits against the Army Corps of Engineers, which is making detailed plans for management of both river basins. Because of the Corps’ regulatory role, the water wars have largely consisted of states—when not suing each other—siding with the Corps because they liked what it was doing, or suing the Corps for not doing it. “We hope that one day we will work together instead of fighting,” says Zitsch. But in the meantime, “It’s like the Hatfields and McCoys: you keep fighting because you’ve always fought. At some point you forget what you were fighting about.”

This article will appear in our April 2023 issue.

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