An Issue that many are not paying attention to: WATER!. This is serious Folks.

Our water situation here in Georgia is very dicey as the state battles Alabama & Florida for water rights.

Efforts to launch water supply strategies first for the Atlanta area and later for the rest of Georgia were marked by emotional rhetoric that the fast growing metro area was out to grab as much water as it could get from less populous communities downstream here in rural georgia. “Downstreamers had better be fearful: They have reason to be,” said Jim Butler, a Columbus lawyer, Democratic Activist and former member of the Georgia Board of Natural Resources. The need for a statewide water plan has long been apparent, going back to the Roy Barnes Administration, or even the Zell Miller Administration. Georgia’s population passed 9 million population 2 yrs ago and is expected to double in the years to come, with more than half of the curent state population living in the metro area alone.

Some have said that water should be piped in from the Chattahoochee River in West Georgia, which borders Alabama or maybe the Savannah River, or downstate rivers such as the Flint River.

Jim Butler, who spoke up at the Gwinnett Rotary Club back in July said it the best. Here's what he said:

If the Congress doesn't solve the problem, the other recourse, Butler said, "Is economic. And we are already way behind in this, if it is either building more reservoirs, or conserving water. For both of these, its takes years and years for this to happen, and we haven't even started."

"But Georgia has made the three adjacent states mad. And do the math: in the House of Representatives, the vote is 47-13 against Georgia, and in the Senate, it's 6-2." And you know what he's right. We are outnumbered. It's gong to take veterans like John Lewis, who represents the economic enging of our state, Sanford Bishop, who district includes the Chattahoochee River & Jack Kingston to hammer out a deal to ensure the state receives it's fair share of water or keep its water from going to our neighboring states. The upshot is that on all three topics listed by Butler, the courts, the Congress, and the economic possibility, and Georgia are already way, way behind the eight ball. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson ruled back in July that Atlanta must revert back to the 1970s levels of withdrawals from the lake if congress doesn't come to a new agreement on water usage, but with Chief litigator Paul Clement withdrawing from the case, the whole issue is now up in the air.

When you have a governor who seems he doesn't know what to do & with the congressional delegations of Georgia, Florida & Alabama not anywhere close to coming up with a deal, the state that will suffer the most is...... yes Georgia!

candidates running for governor in 2010 has made this issue a huge part of their platform:

Dubose Porter of Laurens County says: Building more reservoirs is attractive but expensive; fixing leaks, maximizing gray water, smart landscaping, installing efficient fixtures, improving existing dams, metering all use, and piping existing reservoirs are all options Georgians should consider in this economy. Weighing the costs versus the benefits, of all the ideas, for now and the future, is the only common sense approach.

David Poythress made a video on this. Here it is:

This is something that needs to be given special attention to. The water issue will affect our agriculture interest, metro atlanta, & the ability for our state to grow.