There’s a play on words that goes, “Denial is not just a river in Egypt.”
That attempt at humor aside, denial does indeed seem to be a bay in Southwest Florida. Apalachicola Bay, to be exact.
This admittedly troubled body of water dove back into headlines when Florida officials filed the latest lawsuit in the seemingly perpetual Tri-State Water Wars. You’re excused if you thought the long-running spat involving Florida, Georgia and Alabama had been settled by yet another court ruling last year. Sadly, it has not.
The Sunshine State injected new life into the dispute when it filed suit with the U.S. Supreme Court this month, alleging that “Florida cannot and should not suffer injury in order to satiate Georgia’s unrelenting thirst.”
In its legal broadside, Florida asks the nation’s highest court to appoint a “special master” who would guide the matter toward a “decree equitably apportioning the waters of the ACF basin.” In this skewed vision of “equitable,” Florida gets its way, we’d bet.
It gets better — or worse, depending on which side of the state line you call home. Florida further asks the court to order Georgia’s “depletive” water usage be capped “at the level then existing on January 3, 1992.”
If that sounds like a ridiculous request, you’re correct. It is exactly that. It is also a stunning display of misguided bravado and outright nerve.
Georgia should not be the scapegoat for damage incurred by the seafood business centered around Florida’s Apalachicola Bay region. Yes, the oyster industry there is limping badly — the federal government declared the bay a disaster area in August.
Even so, setting off another expensive, arduous and time-wasting legal chase surely cannot be the most-effective solution for Florida’s problem. The state’s efforts would seem better spent on economic remediation work to both assist their industry and its workers and correct past mismanagement of same. Florida would also do well to take active part in any talks among the three states with the hope of reaching a final settlement of the water conflict.
Which leads us to another point. Like a brisk breeze off of a bay, this latest legal pursuit carries with it a distinct whiff — not of salt air in this case, but of political scapegoating.
In a Q & A on the question, “Why is Florida suing Georgia?,” the Sunshine State concludes, “It is time for Georgia to shoulder the burden of its metropolitan expansion and poor water management practices, rather than imposing the cost of its unchecked consumption on Florida’s families downstream.”
That gem of a sentiment could illustrate the word “gall” in dictionaries. Florida’s basic premise does not hold any water, in our view.
Let’s start with consumption. First, a caveat. The folks at the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District go to considerable lengths to point out that drawing direct water usage comparisons are tricky on account of differences in climate, type of industry and other variables between any area A or B.
That disclosure noted, a December 2012 report from Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection states that Floridians used an average 169 gallons of water per person in 1995. In 2010, the gross per capita average had fallen to 133 gallons a day – a 21 percent dip. Read on, however.
The North Georgia water planning body says that our region’s per capita usage also fell more than 20 percent – from 2001 to 2010. That meant regional per capita water usage fell from 149 gallons a day to 110 gallons during that decade.
So much for the “unchecked and growing consumption” of water that Florida rails against.
We’re not perfect, but the metro Atlanta area has done a lot toward conserving water. Recent drought has reinforced the value of such practices. For example, the region has largely imposed so-called “conservation pricing” of water. Basically, the more you use, the more you pay. Other programs have encouraged detecting and repairing water leaks. The region has also worked to upgrade wastewater treatment in order to maximize the amount of water returned to the ACF basin.
The Atlanta metro’s unified effort is especially impressive as a commonsense example of regional unity that’s yielded real results in a place where such formal cooperation and unity are often not encouraged. Collaboration is paying off for the 15 counties and 56 water providers in the metro planning district. It may also give us an advantage in the upcoming court battles.
We trust the Supreme Court will recognize all that, and make haste in dispensing with Florida’s latest legal blame game.
