Environmental groups, Perdue talk about water

By Dan Chapman and Kristi E. Swartz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Gov. Sonny Perdue, continuing his courtship of local and state officials with stakes in the tri-state water war, met Tuesday with a coalition of environmental groups keen to make water conservation a priority.

Perdue’s goal is to get Lake Lanier and Allatoona river “stakeholder” groups on the proverbial same page. The governor has met with Georgia’s congressional delegation, Atlanta business leaders, gubernatorial candidates and downstream Chattahoochee River users since a federal judge ruled last month that metro Atlanta has no congressional right to tap Lake Lanier.

“It’s helpful (to be united) particularly when you’re talking about dealing with members of Congress,” said Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley, adding that the governor wants to meet with state lawmakers and others in the future. “These groups represent a large number of Georgians ... an easy way for them to be involved is to engage our delegation.”

Tuesday it was the Georgia Water Coalition’s turn.

“Water conservation and efficiency are the most cost-effective and quickest ways to meet water supply needs here in Georgia,” said April Ingle, the executive director of the Georgia River Network, who met with Perdue and a dozen other environmental groups for more than an hour. The Coalition also includes the Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Land, Georgia Conservation Voters and Chattahoochee, Coosa and Satilla river monitors.

The Coalition presented Perdue with a list of recommendations, some requiring the governor’s suasion during next year’s legislative session, including a push for retrofitted toilets, less leaky water distribution systems and scientifically accurate water flow data for Georgia, Alabama and Florida.

Brantley said the governor is serious about conservation but knows that there’s no way the state can conserve enough water to carry it back to the level it used 30 years ago.

The states have been involved in a “water war” for nearly two decades over the sharing of the waters that flow into and out of lakes Lanier and Allatoona. Perdue has rolled out legal, political and negotiating strategies since Judge Paul Magnuson ruled July 17 that metro Atlanta is not congressionally authorized to tap Lanier.