A group of stakeholders from up and down the Chattahoochee River basin is close to forming a negotiating committee and local West Point Lake watchers likely will be asked to get involved, members of the lake’s advisory committee, sponsored by the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce, learned Friday.

“There’s a solution brewing,” said Joe Maltese, point-man on the lake and water issues for the city of LaGrange. The stakeholder initiative is “close to being birthed,” he said.

“The stakeholders are the ones at the end of the day that have to live with whatever happens,” Maltese said.

The chamber committee, formed more than two years ago to raise money for economic and scientific studies of West Point Lake, met Friday to discuss the impact of federal judge Paul Magnuson’s ruling two weeks ago. Magnuson said metro Atlanta can’t get drinking water from Lake Lanier and gave the state three years to work out an alternate solution.

Arguments on part two of the decades-long water wars case, which will decide whether Florida is entitled to guaranteed flows for endangered species are set to begin soon. Magnuson, however, encouraged stakeholders along the basin to try and work out their issues in his ruling.

Maltese, along with West Point Lake Coalition Director Dick Timmerberg and county engineer James Emery, have been meeting with the stakeholder group since late last year. Maltese said the group would be charged with looking at many of the studies on the basin and “hashing out the good science.”

When the group does officially gel, local organizations such as the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce, city and county governments and other groups will need to join in and represent West Point Lake area interests, Maltese said.

The chamber committee also was encouraged to keep pressure on the congressional delegation, including U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, to speak up for the lake.

Maltese also said the city and county governments will “need support,” financial and otherwise, as legal battles continue. The city of Columbus already is asking the state and Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the basin, for a guaranteed flow to help dilute its treated wastewater. Columbus officials were told publicly by Gov. Sonny Perdue on Tuesday that the city is going to need a new sewage plant, even if a guaranteed flow was granted. A guaranteed flow would have to come from West Point Lake.

“Twenty-five years ago, LaGrange spent $40 million to upgrade its infrastructure,” LaGrange Mayor Jeff Lukken said. Only recently has Atlanta begun upgrading its wastewater systems.

“For years, we got Atlanta’s junk and now Columbus wants our water,” Lukken said. “An area that was asleep a year ago is now a very big threat.”