A collaboration between Alabama Public Radio, WFSU and WABE
The disagreements over water between Florida, Georgia and Alabama aren't over even though earlier this year the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Georgia. The states have been arguing for decades with Florida and Alabama accusing Georgia of using too much water.
A plan was put forth six years ago by people who say there is a way to find agreement between the states.
To many, Lake Lanier, just north of Atlanta, is a fun destination. But the reservoir is also metro Atlanta's main source of drinking water. It's near the headwaters of the Chattahoochee River, one of the rivers the states have fought over.
Wilton Rooks is one of the founders of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint Stakeholders, a group made up of people from all three states representing industry, farmers, residents and environmentalists. They got together to see if there was a way to solve the disagreements over the water in the rivers.
“The question was, is there a better way to manage the water, other than through the courts,” Rooks said.
They did come up with a plan and released it in 2015.
One of the recommendations was to raise the level of Lake Lanier by 2 feet to store an additional 26 billion gallons of water.
“I've always used the analogy of a bank account,” Rooks said. “The more money you have stored in your bank account, the more you have to use when you need it if you have an emergency.”
The dam itself wouldn't have to be changed; it's high enough. But this idea still wouldn't be easy. Higher water levels would put a popular boat ramp permanently under water. Beaches would be affected, and there are questions about how that extra water would be used when it is needed.
Still, Rooks, who's no longer involved with the Stakeholders group, said at least this plan shows that a solution is possible, even if it ends up working differently.
There’s enough water for everyone most years, but the problems arise when there’s a drought.
Just over 220 miles downstream of Lake Lanier, but still on the Chattahoochee River, is the Walter F. George Reservoir in Eufaula on the border between Georgia and Alabama. One issue for Alabama is a number of industries that rely on the Chattahoochee.
Phillip Clayton is the current chair of the ACF Stakeholders group. He said the power plants and paper mills along the river use water for manufacturing, cooling and power generation.
“If they do not have adequate flow, they would shut down,” he said.
Less water means fewer jobs. Clayton uses one of the paper mills as an example.
“That is 800 jobs and that would have a tremendous impact on our local economy here, the economy of Phenix City and Columbus and in the region because losing associated indirect jobs that support those 800 direct jobs,” he said.
Clayton said the stakeholders’ water plan was largely ignored by leaders from all three states and by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The plan suggests a lot more flexibility and coordination in how water is released from reservoirs throughout the system so there’d be minimum water flow levels even during drought.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5XC3W9t0Yc
“So what we’re thinking, is with the sustainable water management plan we will be able to meet those flows because those flows are critical to those plants in their operations, whether it be direct process water or cooling water, thermal water or in the case of hydroelectric in actual generation,” Clayton said.
But for this to work, the plan also calls for Alabama’s Nuclear Plant Farley to refurbish its intake so it can meet water demands when the flow is low. The plant produces almost 20 percent of Alabama Power’s electricity.
So for Alabama, it’s not just jobs on the line; it’s power generation, too.
In Florida, there’s a delicate ecosystem, and an oyster fishery at stake.
In the Apalachicola River delta, former Apalachicola Riverkeeper Dan Tonsmiere is helping the environmental organization restore wetlands previously blocked by dredging projects. Tonsmeire explained those waterways are called sloughs.
“They come out of the river, run so far down the river floodplain, picking up the nutrients and the organic matter, bringing it back into the river,” he said.
And from there, they flow into Apalachicola Bay. Tonsmeire said restoring the sloughs would help the ecosystem in the bay and the oyster industry, but only if there’s enough water to reach throughout the floodplain.
That’s why the Stakeholders Water Plan, which Tonsmeire helped write, calls for more water to be released from Jim Woodruff Dam out of Lake Seminole. That’s where the Chattahoochee meets with the Flint River, on the state line with Florida. They combine to form the Apalachicola River.
Tonsmeire said the plan calls for two big releases of water in May and July, mimicking historic natural river flows.
When rain is abundant, this happens anyway. But during droughts, he said, the Army Corps of Engineers cuts flows.
“It’s the same in the bay as it is in the floodplain. It likes to be wet and dry, wet and dry,” Tonsmeire said. “When you fix it at a drought stage, it puts such an extreme stress on the system.”
Tonsmeire said after a drought in 2012, the Apalachicola Bay oyster fishery crashed when too little water was released from the dam. He said big releases of water during oyster spawning season might create better growing conditions, even during drought years.
Managing the river system should be possible the Stakeholders say. But their plan only works when all of it is implemented. The stakeholders said even if what they proposed back in 2015 isn’t the final answer, at least it’s a start in how to share the water between the three states.
This story is part of an on-going journalism collaboration between Alabama Public Radio, WABE-FM in Atlanta, and WFSU-FM in Tallahassee. All three newsrooms are joining forces to report on issues of interest in the tri-state area.
Editor's Note: A Stakeholder's Group consultant suggested modifying the water intake pipes at the Farley Nuclear Plant. The ACF Stakeholders' Group says it was not included in their final plan.