‘Stakeholders’ want say in resolving water war

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Citizens throughout the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) river basin have formed a “stakeholders” group to make sure their voices are heard in the ongoing water war between Georgia, Alabama and Florida.

A federal judge recently ruled that Atlanta illegally taps Chattahoochee-fed Lake Lanier for its water, yet another milestone in the 20-year struggle to divvy up the river’s flow.

“The political and legal systems have failed to find a solution,” the ACF Stakeholders group said in a statement released Tuesday. “Maybe it was time for the stakeholders to have a voice in the process.”

Environmental, industry, recreation, farm and local government representatives from Lanier on down to the Apalachicola Bay in Florida will join the nonprofit advocacy group. They seek a tri-state water agreement that “balance(s) economic, ecological and social values.”

For more information, call Brian Manwaring at the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution at 520-901-8529. Web site: www.acfstakeholders.org.

Dan Chapman