The Georgia General Assembly has overwhelmingly passed resolutions to establish a border commission to resolve Georgia's erroneously marked border with Tennessee, in part to reaffirm our rights to the water of the Tennessee River.

Jay Bookman, based on incomplete analysis, expressed his doubts that this effort can succeed ("Border war over water likely to fail," @issue. Feb. 28).

To address Georgia's water needs and possible droughts, Bookman advises focusing on conservation, planning and reservoirs. I agree that these elements must be part of the ultimate solution. However, we must find a new supply source if North Georgia is to continue to prosper.

When Tennessee was created, its border with Georgia was the 35th parallel. Georgia included most of present-day Alabama and Mississippi, along with 200 miles of the Tennessee River.

When Georgia ceded its western territory in 1802, the United States agreed that Georgia's new western border would reach and cross the Tennessee River at Nickajack, for the obvious purpose of retaining Georgia's original water rights. As a federal agency, the Tennessee Valley Authority is bound by this agreement.

In 1818, Georgia and Tennessee appointed surveyors to find the 35th parallel and mark it. Unfortunately, they marked it a mile south of its true location. Tennessee passed a statute ratifying the marked border, effective upon Georgia's adoption of a similar statute.

However, Georgia never passed a similar statute. Instead, it passed eight resolutions between 1887 and 1971 calling on Tennessee to correct the error. In fact, Tennessee's own Legislature admitted in 1889 and 1905 that it had "grave doubts as to the location of the State line."

In 1974, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that Georgia had not ratified the 1818 survey and that the true border location remained in dispute.

In 1981, the U.S. Energy Regulatory Commission approved an agreement between the Georgia and Tennessee public service commissions that Georgia would have jurisdiction of the disputed strip for purposes of the Natural Gas Act.

Although Tennessee has refused to correct the surveying mistake at Nickajack, it insisted that Mississippi correct a similar surveying mistake at Memphis that put the 35th parallel four miles north of its actual location.

When the error was realized, Tennessee insisted upon a correction, and Mississippi finally agreed in 1890.

Bookman cites one U.S. Supreme Court case, Georgia v. South Carolina (1990), to show that Georgia has lost its claims to small islands in the Savannah River because it had acquiesced to South Carolina's treatment of the islands as its own.

But that case is not really applicable. A more relevant case is New Jersey v. Delaware, which held that there could be no acquiescence where the border had long been disputed, as is the case with Georgia and Tennessee.

Article IV, Section 3, of the U.S. Constitution provides that no state may be formed from part of an existing state without the consent of both legislatures and Congress. Hence, moving the border from the real 35th parallel requires the consent of the Georgia Legislature, which has not occurred.

In Tennessee v. Virginia, the court found that both states had expressly consented to moving the original border to an erroneous survey line. By contrast, Georgia's numerous border resolutions and the 1974 D.C. Circuit case show that Georgia's Legislature has not consented to moving the border from the 35th parallel.

It is imperative that the water needs of North Georgia are met so that the entire Southeast can remain a strong economic engine. TVA's own Web site states that "the Tennessee River is the nearest water body with enough volume" to meet the future needs of Atlanta and North Georgia.

By contesting Georgia's assertion of its water rights at Nickajack, Tennessee could force Georgia to judicially confirm its ownership of the entire disputed strip.

• Brad Carver is an Atlanta attorney representing the Nickajack Project Group, consisting of northwest Georgia local governments, a national engineering firm and an environmental consultant who are working for an interbasin transfer from the Tennessee River at Nickajack to the Coosa River and Chattahoochee River basins.