Don’t Let Georgia Steal Water From the Tennessee River

By Nathan Young on April 3, 2013

Georgia, Georgia, Georgia. Especially the Atlanta Metro. You have been allowing unlimited amounts of growth for the past 50 years. The growth is getting so big now that you are now running low on water resources. For the past decade, you have been using lots of water from Lake Lanier. The water from Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River flows down along the Georgia / Alabama border to form the Apalachicola River. This river is the lifeblood to communities and the oyster harvesters in Apalachicola Bay. Court battles are still happening in the “Water War” to try to stop Georgia from taking more water out of Lake Lanier so communities downstream will not suffer. So far, the federal courts have sided with Georgia and the Atlanta Metro.

But as we all know, the Atlanta Metro has to just keep growing without checks put into place. The Georgia Legislature is looking at the Tennessee River way up in Tennessee for water. They claim a 1818 land survey was done wrong and the Tennessee / Georgia border should be placed one mile to the north. This would place a small part of Tennessee River around Nickajack Lake in Georgia. Problem solved, Georgia can suck dry another river so the Atlanta Metro can keep on growing and growing without checks put into place.

From Chattanooga Times-Free Press

Keep in mind, Alabama communities along the Chattahoochee River in southeast Alabama are already struggling because of the lower water levels. During a drought, this can cause some communities to go without water. So if water is taken out of the Tennessee River, this will harm Alabama communities all along North Alabama. The Water Wars are taking another horrible turn because of the droughts in the southeast in the last several years.

The Tennessee Valley Authority must approve any interbasin water transfers and it has already said that taking water out of the Tennessee River basin is not a good idea. Georgia could also take water from rivers and streams from inside Georgia that flow to the Tennessee River. This would affect communities in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. The Georgia Legislature wants the Georgia Attorney General to sue Tennessee and the Federal Government to force the Tennessee / Georgia border to be aligned with the 35th Parallel. How long until this potential lawsuit is thrown out?

This is the fourth time Georgia has tried to have the border moved north. And the fourth time will go down in flames once again. 200 years ago when the land survey was done and the borders were set. Georgia and Tennessee both agreed on the border. This issue is all about Georgia wanting to invade Tennessee so they can continue to be careless in the Atlanta Metro. If somehow Georgia gets access to the Tennessee River, it’s going to severely impact Alabama. Alabama already hates Georgia because of the low water levels along the Chattahoochee, Coosa, and Tallapoosa River basins. Currently, Georgia is so close to the Tennessee River. Let’s keep it that way!

Georgia, I am going to give you a simple plan so everyone in the Atlanta Metro can have access to clean, quality water. STOP THE OVERGROWTH. The Atlanta Metro is going to have to show some tough love to the people and companies there. The metro needs to stop allowing new construction of homes and businesses until Georgia can plan the water needs of the entire metro without invading other states. The metro needs to say “i’m sorry, you can’t move here” to new businesses and people until these issues are addressed and fixed. Maybe limiting new growth in the Atlanta Metro would be a good thing, traffic is already horrible!