Late yesterday May 11, City Attorney J. Patrick Floyd called from Jacksonville to report that he felt all went well for Florida, Alabama, and the City of Apalachicola in the hearing to resolve the nearly 20-year old tri-state water wars between Florida, Alabama, and Georgia.
The hearing scheduled before the Honorable U.S. District Court Judge Paul A. Magnuson for the Middle District of Florida was to determine whether metro Atlanta has the right to use Lake Sidney Lanier as its primary municipal water supply.
Judge Magnuson, appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota by President Ronald Reagan in 1991, was selected to oversee the tri-state case because of his prior experience in water rights litigations.
According to Floyd, from the onset the Minnesota Judge limited both sides to only one hour to make their opening and closing arguments, and questioned why Georgia didn’t take their concerns for additional water allocations directly to Congress.
Lake Lanier is a storage reservoir created in 1956 by the completion of Buford Dam, its primary use as authorized by Congress is to provide for hydroelectricity and flood control. The use of the lake for municipal drinking water is an incidental use secondary to hydroelectricity.
The City of Apalachicola entered into the litigation because of the irreparable harm imposed upon the ecosystem and our way of life by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decision to supply Atlanta its drinking water by restricting vital freshwater flows down the Apalachicola River Basin contrary to authorized congressional use.
The hearing scheduled before the Honorable U.S. District Court Judge Paul A. Magnuson for the Middle District of Florida was to determine whether metro Atlanta has the right to use Lake Sidney Lanier as its primary municipal water supply.
Judge Magnuson, appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota by President Ronald Reagan in 1991, was selected to oversee the tri-state case because of his prior experience in water rights litigations.
According to Floyd, from the onset the Minnesota Judge limited both sides to only one hour to make their opening and closing arguments, and questioned why Georgia didn’t take their concerns for additional water allocations directly to Congress.
Lake Lanier is a storage reservoir created in 1956 by the completion of Buford Dam, its primary use as authorized by Congress is to provide for hydroelectricity and flood control. The use of the lake for municipal drinking water is an incidental use secondary to hydroelectricity.
The City of Apalachicola entered into the litigation because of the irreparable harm imposed upon the ecosystem and our way of life by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decision to supply Atlanta its drinking water by restricting vital freshwater flows down the Apalachicola River Basin contrary to authorized congressional use.
In addition, city officials felt that the issue was of local significant not to relegate our responsibility to fight for the residents of our community to others.
Floyd further reported that the Judge indicated that it would take some time before he would render his decision, however the city attorney surmised that it could be within a month.
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