MARIETTA APARTMENTS BLOG

There’s a long held argument between Alabama, Florida and Georgia concerning Lake Lanier, a body of water just north of Atlanta. The argument focuses on how much water is drawn from the lake to provide for Atlanta consumption.

The Times-Herald recently ran an article about the situation. It’s especially interesting because the author is from Alabama.

Here’s a sample:

Georgia had a secret agreement with the Corps of Engineers to allocate more water from Lake Lanier downstream to feed the urban sprawl that is Atlanta. The metropolis has become a beast with a bottomless appetite for water — and not just for drinking.

To some Georgians, there is Georgia and then there is Atlanta, which is almost a state unto its own, apart from the rest of the Peach State.

The agreement, giving more of Lanier’s water to Atlanta, would drastically diminish the water downstream for Alabama and Florida, which could have been devastating for the two states.

In February, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., ruled the secret agreement was illegal according to federal law. That decision led to another round in the water war, when Georgia petitioned the Supreme Court, whose ruling Monday will not be the end of the fight.