By Alabama Public Radio
Atlanta, GA – Alabama and Florida have some new, unlikely allies in their water sharing dispute with Georgia.
Amid growing concerns that the water sharing negotiations have focused too much on the interests of metro Atlanta, Columbus and some other Georgia cities downstream have now aligned themselves with Alabama and Florida. That new Georgia coalition includes the Chattahoochee Riverkeepers, Columbus-Muscogee County, Troup County, LaGrange and Bainbridge. The group has filed a brief in federal court to intervene in a contract signed between metro Atlanta and the U-S Army Corps of Engineers which would allows Atlanta to withdraw enough water from Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River to take care of at least another million people.
Alabama and Florida sued to block that contract, saying it fails to consider other downstream interests that also need an adequate water supply.