Dear Editor:

A few years ago, water wells in the City of Greenville, Georgia went dry. Greenville had to do something fast, so they contacted LaGrange and made a deal to put a water line from LaGrange to Greenville and this was taken care of. All Greenville had to do is pay for water used.

A couple years ago in the city of Hogansville, the water pump station needed an update, so they asked LaGrange about selling them water. LaGrange, along with Coweta County, raun water lines to Hogansville, so now the citizens of both Greenville and Hogansville are happy citizens.

The citizens of Atlanta, Georgia for the past 20 years have been using water illegally from Lake Lanier, and for 20 years Atlanta knew they had no rights to the city using the water for their main supply of water, but for 20 years they have used a law firm McKenna and Aldridge and the taxpayers of the state of Georgia paid this law firm more than $6 million dollars, knowing all the time that Atlanta was using the water from the lake illegally. This was proved in a federal court this past week.

Atlanta had 20 years to make arrangements to dig wells, build a reservoir, pipe water in from Tenn. from a huge lake on the Tenn, Georgia line. Atlanta has now three years to do something, but Atlanta has decided to fight it, spending millions more of the taxpayer’s money.

#1. Why should the citizens of the state of Georgia have to pay attorneys for Atlanta water wars with Florida and Alabama?

#2. Seems as for the past 20 years, Georgia has paid the law firm of McKenna & Aldridge and they have done nothing, and in fact Atlanta is now in worse shape than they ever was, as now they have only three years before the taps are turned off. So I would think the law firm should give the $6 million back as they have done little to keep the water flowing into the citizens of Atlanta’s taps.

I was talking with a friend from Macon and his remark is, “why am I taxed and the citizens of the rest of the state paying for Atlanta’s water. Now Atlanta wants to send a bunch of men and a hand full of high priced lawyers to Washington to argue for the water rights that a federal judge ruled two weeks ago that Atlanta has been using the water illegally. It is a great thing to send them, but as long as Atlanta uses their own money and not the taxpayers money, they can fight the government for the next 20 years.

From day one, the federal government said the massive federal reservoirs were built for hydroelectric power and never a water supply.

Thanks,

Bill England

LaGrange