Bill trying to protect area water

Measure could pit rural areas against metro Atlanta region

February 4, 2006
By Diane Wagner, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer

Local legislators are moving to protect Northwest Georgia's water supply, but they can't necessarily count on traditional allies.

"The issue largely breaks out along regional lines rather than party interests," said state Sen. Preston Smith, R-Rome.

The powerful chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said he is lobbying both Democrats and Republicans to support a bill he filed last week that establishes strict guidelines for interbasin transfers.

While the legislation would set statewide standards, it's no secret that the target is metropolitan Atlanta. Counties in the fast-growing metro region draw on water sources from both their own river basins and others, including the Coosa basin. And when the water drains, it's all funneled into the basin where it was used instead of being returned to the basin of origin.

"Interbasin transfers to metro Atlanta are scheduled to increase by at least 100 million gallons a day by 2030," said Joe Cook, director of Rome-based Coosa River Basin Initiative.
Cook said he was disappointed Thursday when the Metropolitan North Georgia Water District board voted against seeking legislation that would force homeowners in the metro area to retrofit older houses with low-flow shower heads and toilets before they could be resold. The move would save an estimated 42 million gallons of water a day, he said.

"Without retrofitting, we're setting ourselves up to lose another 42 million gallons a day to metro Atlanta, " he said.

Cook said he has hopes for a retrofitting bill being drafted by state Rep. Debbie Buckner, D-Columbus, and supported by members of the Rural Legislative Caucus. State Rep. Barbara Massey Reece, D-Menlo, said the coalition of lawmakers from outside the urban core of the state is trying to craft provisions that will make it past strong opposition from Atlanta.

"It would save a tremendous amount of water in the metro area and, therefore, leave a little more up here with us," Reece said. "And it would give a little more downstream to Columbus and other areas that need it."

On the Senate side, Smith also is reaching out to legislators from outside the perimeter. "I really don't know the chances (of the bill's passing), but I'm talking to a lot of people," he said. "I hope this will be a very bipartisan effort."

To make the measure more politically palatable, Smith's Senate Bill 464 temporarily exempts interbasin transfers included in the state's only existing water management plan - created by, and for, the 16-county Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District. The exemption would end when a statewide management plan, due in 2008, is adopted.

However, he also included a provision that specifically prohibits any new transfers from Lake Allatoona or the Etowah River.