Studer Community Institute

Florida-Georgia water wars going to U.S. Supreme Court

November 3, 2014
/ Shannon Nickinson
/ community-dashboard

Today, Gov. Rick Scott announced that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up Florida’s lawsuit regarding Georgia’s overconsumption of waters that is impacting the Apalachicola Bay region, according to a news release from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. To view Florida’s lawsuit, click HERE. “This is huge news and a major victory for Florida, and marks the first of many important victories for the families and businesses of Apalachicola,” Scott said in a news release. “We took bold action last year to protect the waters of Apalachicola from Georgia’s unchecked use of these critical resources. For 20 years, Florida has tried to work with Georgia, and families have continued to see their fisheries suffer from the lack of water. “The Supreme Court takes up so few cases, and their willingness to hear Florida’s demonstrates the merits of our case before the court. We are fighting for the future of this region, and we won’t quit until these resources are restored.” Last August, the state filed suit against Georgia over its use of water from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basins. At the time the suit was filed, Scott said this: “After years of attempting to negotiate an equitable apportionment of the waters that flow through the states, the collapse of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint Compact in 2003 left Florida and Alabama in the same disadvantaged position. “Meanwhile, Georgia had improved its standing at the expense of its neighbors by staking increased claims to the river waters for itself…. “The Metro-Atlanta area primarily gets its water from the Chattahoochee River with withdrawals totaling 360 million gallons per day. “Meanwhile, Georgia’s consumption is expected to nearly double to 705 million gallons per day by 2035, as Atlanta’s population and water consumption grows unchecked. That estimated daily consumption represents the approximate water volume of the entire Apalachicola Bay.” The bay is home to 90 percent of Florida’s oyster supply, and 10 percent of the nation’s oyster supply. Historically low water levels brought about by Georgia’s excessive consumption have caused oysters to die because of higher salinity in the Bay and increased disease and predator intrusion.

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Florida-Georgia water wars going to U.S. Supreme Court

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