Magnuson, who ruled on “Part One” of the years-long water wars case among Georgia, Florida and Alabama on July 17, came out against Georgia, specifically Lake Lanier, and put the responsibility of whether metro Atlanta can get its water from the lake on Congress.
Magnuson said because Lanier initially wasn’t authorized by Congress as a source for drinking water, it’s up to Congress now to make it that way - or for metro Atlanta to get its water from somewhere else. The Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the basin, has been letting metro Atlanta use Lanier for drinking water supply.
Local officials say there’s no worry whether the ruling would affect LaGrange’s water supply, which comes from West Point Lake. City attorney Jeff Todd, who has closely followed the “water wars” case and sat in on hearings, said the ruling on Lake Lanier won’t effect cities like Buford and Gainesville, which got their water from the Chattahoochee before the lake was formed. Similarly, LaGrange still has its water intake in the original Chattahoochee River bed, where it’s been since before West Point Lake was formed.
“Just as Buford and Gainesville are, in effect, ‘grandfathered in,’ and may continue to withdraw from Lake Lanier even after the court’s decision goes into effect, the rights of LaGrange should be similarly unaffected,” Todd said.
Georgia immediately vowed to appeal Magnuson’s decision, which Todd said could delay the ultimate effects of the ruling for years. Todd also said the decision definitely puts the water wars in the hands of Congress.
At least one local congressman doesn’t appear to be sure that was the wisest choice.
“It’s interesting this judge has asked Congress to straighten it out,” said U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Grantville, who represents the West Point Lake area.
He said the ruling effectively pits Georgia against Alabama and Florida. Georgia has 15 representatives in the U.S. House and Senate, while Florida and Alabama have a combined 37.
“They outnumber us 37 to 15,” Westmoreland said. “I don’t know how (Magnuson) expects us to get anywhere.”
Still, he said water wars along the Colorado River and other parts of the country eventually have been resolved.
“Hopefully we will be able to work something out,” he said. “I do believe it will have to be between the governors of the states or the courts.”
Westmoreland said if the judge is going to stick to the water system’s authorized uses, he and others will be sure that one of West Point Lake’s authorization from Congress as a recreation area is authorized. West Point Lake leaders have argued for years that levels here need to be stable to support the recreation industry. The lake is the only one in the Southeast to be authorized for recreation by Congress.
In recent years, however, other interests along the river basin seem to have taken precedence.
“We have not found - and we are looking - where it’s authorized by Congress that the river be used for thermoelectric power,” Westmoreland said. “There’s no authorization for all these industrial uses along the Chattahoochee.”
Westmoreland and Joe Maltese, LaGrange’s point-man on the lake, say the best hope now may be for the stakeholders along the basin to get together and resolve their conflicts, without courts or Congress. A movement by those stakeholders began to take shape early this year but still is in the planning stages.
“It’s hard to see how this will be resolved without all the stakeholders,” Maltese said.
Maltese also wonders how Magnuson’s three-year deadline for Congress to act on Lake Lanier will sync up with the Corps of Engineers’ current process to update water control plans for the basin, which is expected to take three to five years.
“That’s a real head-scratcher,” he said.
Corps officials said Friday they did not expect a delay because of the ruling.
“We’re proceeding as planned,” said corps spokeswoman Lisa Coghlan.
She said the corps would not have a comment on the ruling itself, in which Magnuson was highly critical of the agency.
“We thought we had the authorization (for metro Atlanta to use Lanier for drinking water), and the judge told us otherwise,” she said.
Maltese said it’s not necessarily this ruling that could have the most impact on West Point Lake, but “Part Two” of the case, which will address the corps’ operating plan and whether flows should be guaranteed for endangered downstream species.
“Now is the time for this community to be more vigilant than ever,” he said. “It’s a time of great uncertainty, but everyone needs to be working to protect our unique authorization” for recreation.
Jennifer Shrader may be reached at jshrader@ lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 236.
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