Final Vote On Statewide Water Plan Now Set For Jan. 8

By Brandon Larrabee
Morris News Service

(12/26/07) Under pressure from environmentalists and local governments, the Georgia Water Policy Council has delayed a decision about the makeup of 12 boards that will develop regional water plans across the state.

The delay, announced at Friday's highly anticipated council meeting, places in flux one of the last flashpoints -- the composition of planning districts -- in a proposed statewide water plan as a deadline looms. The panel needs to give its blessing to the plan Jan. 8 and send it to the Legislature for its consideration.

Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch told water council members the subcommittee working to put together the boards and the regions they will oversee wasn't ready to unveil its recommendations Friday.

Couch and other council members said it was important to delay the decision about the planning districts and the boards that oversee them because of the significance of regional water planning to the state effort.

"It is within the context of regional planning that much of the solution for this state's future will be decided," Couch said.

Environmentalists, editorialists and local government advocates had all expressed some concern about the layout of the planning regions or questions about who would serve on the boards.

Many are alarmed about the boundaries for the measure's proposed water planning districts, which would fall along county lines rather than watersheds.

That method of dividing the state, some critics say, could lead to boards making decisions about three or four rivers basins or arguing with other boards over the same source of water.

Local governments, meanwhile, want to make sure that they have a substantial voice in deciding the shape of the plans.

Rep. Lynn Ratigan Smith, R-Newnan, applauded Couch for deciding to delay the vote on the water planning regions to consider public comments.

"I appreciate the fact that arbitrary dates are not really what we're basing our decision on," Smith said.

Couch stressed, though, that the council still needs to prepare to give final approval to the plan at its Jan. 8 meeting in order to deliver the plan to the General Assembly by Jan. 14, as required by law.

"We'll do that, and we'll do so with the deliberation that needs to be done," she said.
Julie Mayfield, of the Georgia Conservancy, said her group hoped that the delay on the council's part was a positive sign.

"We can't say whether they're going to be able to fix the problem in any meaningful way," she said.

Mayfield noted that the districts couldn't follow watersheds exactly, because the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, which includes 16 Atlanta-area counties, was created by a state law that can't be overturned by the water council. But the plan should follow the watersheds as closely as possible outside the Atlanta area, Mayfield said.

Meanwhile, Couch said a grim new assessment about the state's dry conditions from the state climatologist could lead to new restrictions on water use in Georgia.

The newest report includes a warning that the drought will likely grow worse and the area affected could expand.

Couch declined to rule out stepping up the restrictions in place in the southern parts of Georgia. Previously, she had said restrictions like the complete outdoor watering ban in North Georgia were less likely to be effective because much of South Georgia draws its water from underground supplies that are less reliant on rain.

But Couch said Friday the State Drought Response Committee, which will likely meet sometime in January, would have to look at weather and climate indicators before making any recommendations.

"The geographic extent of those are also going to be of importance," Couch said.
Couch can approve an almost complete outdoor watering ban across some or all of the state. She has usually only done so after first meeting with the drought committee.