12-18-09 Water tect news Mery Christmass

MONTGOMERY, ALA. — The governors of Alabama, Florida and Georgia are optimistic that they will find a solution to their three-state water dispute within one year, the Associated Press reported.

The three states have been engaged in a fight over water sharing for almost 20 years, but the states’ governors agreed that the problem will be resolved before they leave office, according to the article.

The governors have made a similar prediction before.

After a meeting in Tallahassee in December 2007, the state chief executives emerged confident that a deal soon would be in place, but court decisions went against the interests of Georgia and the conflict was never resolved, the story reported.

But the governors contend that this time is different because of the tight deadline they are facing.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist commented, “We only have so much time left as governors of our respective states to accomplish this mission, and that’s why we are as optimistic as we are that it's going to happen.”

The governors are also up against a legal timetable, the article reported.

In July, a federal judge ruled that Georgia does not have sufficient legal rights to Lake Lanier, a reservoir on the Chattahoochee River and Atlanta’s main water source. The judge gave the states until 2012 to make a compromise, according to the story.

The governors expect to have a plan ready for approval by their state legislatures in the spring. After that, the plan will be submitted for the approval of Congress, according to the story.

“If we do that, I think each one of us can look back and say this was a successful venture that took too long, but we ultimately crossed the goal line,” Alabama Gov. Bob Riley said.

Alabama, Florida and Georgia have been engaged in legal battles since 1990 over the allocation of water from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin in all three states and the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin in Georgia and Alabama, the article reported.

To read the entire article, click here.

For related information, click here.