For nearly 40 years, the Georgia-Alabama-Florida battle over water in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin, which includes Lake Lanier, has raged. But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has granted Alabama’s request to dismiss its appeal that challenged water use in the basin.
And that has many close observers cautiously optimistic that the dispute has finally be put to rest, although there have been other legal victories for Georgia which seemed to have ended the conflict.
“For the first time since 1989, there is no litigation between the states in this basin,” said Anna Roach, the executive director and CEO of the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), following the latest court ruling. “This agreement heralds a new era of cooperation that will benefit both states and all stakeholders.”
The compromise will maintain metro Atlanta’s supply from the lake and the Chattahoochee while giving Alabama what it sought, Roach added.
However, there are still a couple of issues that need resolving: An appeal by Florida environmentalists of a four-year-old federal court order which affirms the Corps’ 2017 management plan for water from Lanier and the Chattahoochee south of Buford Dam, and Alabama’s challenge of a Corps water plan.
Stay tuned.
EARLIER STORY. POST APRIL 2, 2025: And, just like that, the Georgia-Alabama-Florida water war is back in the news.
A federal judge in D.C. has ruled in favor of Georgia, the Corps of Engineers, the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), and the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority in a dispute over allocation of water from Lake Allatoona.
You can read the full 38-page ruling here: MEMORANDUM OPINION regarding Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment 156 , Defendant’s Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment 158 , and Intervenor-Defendants’ Cross-Motions for Summary Judgment 159 161 . See Opinion for details. Signed by Judge Loren L. AliKhan on 3/31/2025. (lclla3)
In Georgia’s other long-running water wars battle with the Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court also sided with Georgia, ruling in 2021 that Florida failed to prove its allegations that Georgia’s water consumption from the Chattahoochee and Flint river systems, which include Lake Lanier, caused the failure of Florida’s oyster industry in Apalachicola Bay.
Representatives of water supply systems in Gwinnett, Forsyth and Hall counties finalized an agreement with the Georgia the following year guaranteeing them water from Lake Lanier through 2050.