Some Say Ga. Should Look Across Border For Water Solution

By: Associated Press | Alabama's13.com
Published: December 10, 2007

ATLANTA (AP) - As drought-stricken Georgia looks for other ways to quench its growing thirst, some politicians are looking across the state line to the massive Tennessee River basin for an answer.

Leaders from Tennessee have poured cold water on the idea, saying there's too many political and financial hurdles to overcome.

And other critics warn it could set off a new round of lawsuits over such a transfer's impact on aquatic life. Still, some are holding out hope that tapping into the massive

river basin -- which has a flow about 15 times greater than the river feeding Atlanta -- could help solve Georgia's water problem. And one metro Atlanta leader says old-fashioned political horse-trading might do the trick.

Atlanta needs water. And Chattanooga wants a high-speed rail line to link the two cities.

Richard Beeland of the Chattanooga mayor's office says that the mayors of both towns have had discussions about the water crisis, too, but they were far from "in-depth."

Supporters say that piping in water from Tennessee is more feasible than desalinizing water from the Atlantic Ocean, another idea that Atlanta officials have floated. On paper, the plans seems appealing.

Atlanta relies on the smallest watershed in the country serving a major metropolitan area, experts say, and Georgia has been locked in a legal battle with Alabama and Florida over how best to use the dwindling federal reservoirs in the region.

Just north of the state line sits the Tennessee River, which stretches 652 miles long and surges at a rate more than 15 time greater than Atlanta's Chattahoochee River.

And Tennessee has been angling for a high-speed rail line, in part to shift flights from busy Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to Chattanooga's smaller airport.

But critics - and there are many - say the idea is a nonstarter. The cost would be enormous. Tennessee would need a revamped set of laws, since current statutes severely restrict water transfers out of the basin.

Alabama and Mississippi, which also rely on flow from the river, would likely fight any move that threaten their flows.

And the transfer could unhinge the delicate temperature balance that sustains aquatic life in the basins, threatening plants, fish and other aquatic life.

Some Say Ga. Should Look Across Border For Water Solution

Share This:

More from this channel:

Reader Comments

Deal of the Day

Most Popular

Snap Photos

Things to Do

Links We Like