Good news...Water Wars
Posted: June 2nd, 2011, 9:04 am
Report could give Fla. win in water war
Atlanta Business Chronicle - by Carla Caldwell, Morning Call Editor
Date: Thursday, June 2, 2011, 5:31am EDT
A new report scheduled for release Aug. 1 says Florida may need more water than first thought to prevent deaths of an endangered mussel in Florida’s Apalachicola River, the Miami Herald is reporting. The revision could give Florida a win in the long-running water dispute between Georgia, Florida and Alabama. The three states have fought for years over water, with both Florida and Alabama calling Georgia a water hog that uses so much of the natural resource too little is left for people and wildlife in the neighboring states.
According to the Miami newspaper, a new study has U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service researchers revisiting a 2008 report that found keeping the river flowing at a minimum of 5,000 cubic feet per second would not threaten the existence of the endangered fat threeridge mussel. Scientists are concerned the mussel has moved higher on the riverbank and could need more water to survive than was the case during the drought-stricken period when the study was first completed. More water for Florida could mean less water Atlanta is allowed to drain from Lake Lanier to supply city residents.
The new study says that as many as 1,200 endangered mussels were exposed to air in September when river levels dropped, Donald Imm, a project leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Panama City, Fla. told the Miami Herald. He said the mussels are an indication of general conditions for other wildlife in the waterway.
Florida has asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to overturn a lower court judge who refused last year to order the release of more water from Georgia reservoirs into the Apalachicola River to protect the gulf sturgeon, the fat threeridge mussel and the purple bankclimber mussel. The appellate court delayed a ruling until Imm's team could complete its work, the paper reports.
An attorney for Florida, Parker Thompson, told the Miami Herald the new information is likely to affect the case.
Georgia attorney Todd Silliman told the Miami paper he could not comment until federal scientists file their report.
The U.S. District Court has ruled that Georgia, beginning in 2012, will be limited as far as how much water it can drain from Lake Lanier on the Chattahoochee River, the primary water source for roughly 3 million people – unless the state can strike a deal with Florida and Alabama.
Georgia appealed the ruling saying officials need time to negotiate with Alabama and Florida.
Atlanta Business Chronicle - by Carla Caldwell, Morning Call Editor
Date: Thursday, June 2, 2011, 5:31am EDT
A new report scheduled for release Aug. 1 says Florida may need more water than first thought to prevent deaths of an endangered mussel in Florida’s Apalachicola River, the Miami Herald is reporting. The revision could give Florida a win in the long-running water dispute between Georgia, Florida and Alabama. The three states have fought for years over water, with both Florida and Alabama calling Georgia a water hog that uses so much of the natural resource too little is left for people and wildlife in the neighboring states.
According to the Miami newspaper, a new study has U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service researchers revisiting a 2008 report that found keeping the river flowing at a minimum of 5,000 cubic feet per second would not threaten the existence of the endangered fat threeridge mussel. Scientists are concerned the mussel has moved higher on the riverbank and could need more water to survive than was the case during the drought-stricken period when the study was first completed. More water for Florida could mean less water Atlanta is allowed to drain from Lake Lanier to supply city residents.
The new study says that as many as 1,200 endangered mussels were exposed to air in September when river levels dropped, Donald Imm, a project leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Panama City, Fla. told the Miami Herald. He said the mussels are an indication of general conditions for other wildlife in the waterway.
Florida has asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to overturn a lower court judge who refused last year to order the release of more water from Georgia reservoirs into the Apalachicola River to protect the gulf sturgeon, the fat threeridge mussel and the purple bankclimber mussel. The appellate court delayed a ruling until Imm's team could complete its work, the paper reports.
An attorney for Florida, Parker Thompson, told the Miami Herald the new information is likely to affect the case.
Georgia attorney Todd Silliman told the Miami paper he could not comment until federal scientists file their report.
The U.S. District Court has ruled that Georgia, beginning in 2012, will be limited as far as how much water it can drain from Lake Lanier on the Chattahoochee River, the primary water source for roughly 3 million people – unless the state can strike a deal with Florida and Alabama.
Georgia appealed the ruling saying officials need time to negotiate with Alabama and Florida.
