Dear Editor:

Why is it our governor is spending all his time and energy fighting a water war that has nothing to do with the whole state of Georgia?

In July, a federal judge found that Atlanta had no legal rights to drinking water from Lake Lanier.

They now have developed a task force to try to develop alternative plans for using Lake Lanier. This task force has now focused on “the three C’s”: conservation of water, capture of sources including reservoirs and control through basin transfers. Atlanta has had 20 years to come up with some sort of plans, and knowing all this time that they had few legal rights for the water from Lake Lanier.

Georgia has spent millions of dollars of the taxpayers’ money fighting for a water war that has no bearing on the rest of the state - only Atlanta and Gwinnett, Forsyth and Hall counties. And now, our governor has hired a former U.S. solicitor general, Seth Waxman, at a cost of $855 an hour to head the high-stakes legal battle. The millions they will now spend are the tax money of the people of the state of Georgia. Why are Atlanta and the other counties involved not paying for their own battle as they are the ones concerned and not the rest of the state?

Someone said we want a strong Atlanta, but we don’t want to end up transferring the wealth of the rest of the state to Atlanta at our cost.

What Atlanta and the other counties that depend on water should do is get together and do something rather than keep trying to fight city hall.

The latest news is Georgia, Alabama and Florida have asked a judge to keep their fight over water rights confidential. I would think paying an attorney $855 per hour, the people of the state of Georgia should be told what is happening, as time is running out as the judge gave Atlanta four years to reach an accord at risk of cutting Atlanta off from most of its supply.

Bill England

Cleveland Drive, LaGrange