By Alabama Public Radio
Washington DC – The Tri-State Water Wars went another round this week ... this time on Capital Hill ... where Georgia's congressional delegation and it allies teamed up to defeat an amendment supported by law makers in Alabama and Florida related to the Chattahoochee River. The Chattahoochee is part of a river basin that flows along Alabama's eastern border and is shared by all three states. The three have been fighting over water rights as the sprawl of Atlanta begins claiming more of their shared water resource. Thursday, Georgia Representatives rallied to stop an appropriations amendment that would have blocked the Army Corps of Engineers from updating its water-use plans for the Chatahoochee and Lake Lanier ... that update likely will permit Georgia to withdraw a additional billion gallons of water for use in Atlanta ... something the downstream states say will hurt their economic and social interests. Alabama and Florida have been fighting with Georgia over water from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system since Georgia was sued over the matter in 1990.