Metro Chamber Sounds the Alert

Here is a sobering release we received today

Metro Atlanta Chamber President:
‘Water Crisis Is Biggest and Most Imminent Economic Threat’
To Metro Atlanta and Georgia
Williams Said Drought Emphasizes Need for Long-Term State Water Plan
That Protects Region and State for Sustainable Growth

ATLANTA – Georgia’s water crisis is the biggest and most imminent threat to the economy of Georgia and metro Atlanta, said Metro Atlanta Chamber President Sam A. Williams.

“We are facing the state’s worst drought and the second drought this decade,” Williams said Monday. “Simply put, we have an ongoing water crisis in metro Atlanta – and it is the biggest and most imminent economic threat to our region.”

While short-term measures are needed to address the immediate drought crisis, business leaders underscored how critical it is for the state to adopt and fund a long-term, statewide water plan.

“The current drought has captured everyone’s attention – and it should,” said Pam Sessions, president of Hedgewood Properties and chair of the Chamber’s environmental policy committee. “But there’s a bigger-picture story here. Even once we get through this drought, unless aggressive plans are implemented for the long-term, forecasters say we could still run out of water in 12 to 15 years.”

John Somerhalder II, president and CEO of AGL Resources and vice chair of the Chamber’s environmental policy committee, said the Chamber is advocating for the final version of the state’s water plan to protect natural resources for long-term growth.

“The drought emphasizes the need for a comprehensive statewide water plan – one based on facts,” Somerhalder said. “For four years now, the 16 counties in the Metro North Georgia Water Planning District have already been abiding by a plan that is capable of protecting natural resources and accommodating sustainable growth. And as the state finalizes its statewide water plan, business leaders need to make sure the good policies already at work in the 16-county metro region are fully supported.”

Since 2003, the Metro North Georgia Water Planning District, which includes 16 counties and more than 100 cities, has been operating under a plan with the following key strategies:


• aggressively conserving water, reducing demand by up to 13 percent (potential to save 136 million gallons per day)
building new reservoirs (potential to generate 114 million more gallons per day)
• recycling highly treated wastewater through reservoirs (potential to generate 67 million more gallons per day)
• pushing Congress needs to reallocate water storage from power generation to water supply uses on Allatoona and Lanier (potential to generate 153 million more gallons per day)
• continuing interconnections between water systems and transfers as planned (potential to generate 42 million more gallons per day)


Williams also joined a growing list of concerned leaders – including Dr. Carol Couch of the state’s Environmental Protection Division at the direction of Governor Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and the Metro North Georgia Water Planning District -- in calling on the U.S. Corps of Engineers to reconsider the release of large amounts of water from Lake Lanier to neighboring states.

In a letter being sent today to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Williams said: “We need relief, for the health and well-being of our citizens, our businesses and our economy. We are simply asking for a common-sense approach to water management during the worst drought in our history.”
The Chamber has long been involved in environmental policy issues.
The Chamber’s Clean Water Initiative resulted in the creation of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District in 2001. The district has raised more than $10 million, and developed 2030 water resource plans for the entire metro region.
The Chamber’s public-private Quality Growth Task Force resulted in the creation of the Livable Communities Coalition, Inc. a nonprofit launched in September 2005. Recently, the Chamber helped forge a diverse statewide coalition of 30+ groups that is advocating for fact-based state water policies.