Georgia has been fighting for legal rights to Lake Lanier’s water for years, and recently won an important decision by 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But getting enough water for metro Atlanta remains an issue.

Part of the solution will be managing consumption and conserving, Atlanta Regional Commission head Tad Leithead said. Regional cooperation also will be key.

"And the reality is we're all in this together. And there is, in some respects, ample water," said Amir Farokhi, executive director of GeorgiaForward, a nonprofit working to bridge the state's many differences.

Transportation is the problem that nearly all Atlantans see every day. And, largely because of the 2012 referendum, transportation is also the issue that Atlantans can address first.

For years, worries have floated above the clogged highways: Atlanta would choke on its own growth. If the rising price of gas didn’t get Atlanta, the reluctance of companies to join the queue would.

The money to improve roads and build reservoirs has to come from somewhere. Voters in the region in 2012 will decide whether to approve a 1-cent sales tax that could raise $7 billion over 10 years for transportation improvements.

Julianne Thompson, a leader of the Tea Party Patriots in Georgia, said Georgians should look to private businesses and toll roads for answers instead of defaulting to tax hikes. She uses Texas as an example. But other members at the round-table were frustrated with Thompson’s stance.

"It distracted us from making decisions that were good for the state because there were so many people concerned about getting hammered because they had taken a (no) new tax pledge," said A.D. Frazier, chairman of a state commission on tax reform and fairness.

Education is one challenge that cannot be solved with a vote or judge’s order. But after a painful year of scandal, the area’s flagship system in Atlanta can defuse concerns – but it must show progress this coming year.

Paul Bowers, president of Georgia Power, said that education is a critical investment because today’s students become tomorrow’s workforce. But there’s more to the education discussion than k-12 public schools. Atlanta must take advantage of its universities and retain the talent they produce. And citizens should be educated on resource conservation and the issues.

The issues of transportation, water, education and the economy pose enormous questions, but there is one even greater question without an answer: Who will lead?

The methods the metro area has used to solve many of its problems in the past are no longer effective, and strong leadership is necessary to make the difficult decisions required to reach solutions.

"I think we're all going to have to do a much more vigorous job of holding our leaders accountable for results or getting rid of them," Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said.

"Regional" was most often used in conjunction with addressing traffic woes, but to solve both the water and transportation challenges, Atlanta leaders will have to collaborate with surrounding areas.

In the past, Atlanta, its suburbs and other parts of the state have had less than favorable relationships, but now there’s cooperation, said Sam Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

Part of that is the Atlanta Regional Commission, which plans projects in the 10-county area of metro Atlanta. However, Julianne Thompson, from the Tea Party Patriots in Georgia, said some view the authority as an extra layer of government that redistributes funds away from local governments.