Johnny Isakson, United States Senator

Johnny Isakson's Statement on Georgia's Water Crisis

Johnny is working every day with fellow members of the Georgia delegation to address the water crisis facing the state of Georgia, and he is very grateful for the sacrifices that millions of Georgians are making to comply with water restrictions that are in place across the state.

Click here to view a list of statewide water restrictions across Georgia.

What caused this crisis?

Georgia’s water crisis has been caused by a severe drought, by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s management of river basins based on outdated science and population figures and by the so-called water wars among Georgia, Alabama and Florida that have been ongoing for some 17 years.

Georgia is currently experiencing severe drought conditions that have resulted in historically low lake levels in the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT) and Appalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) river basins, which lie in the states of Georgia, Florida and Alabama. Georgia has implemented statewide watering bans and restrictions to conserve water. The next round of restrictions would be placed on commercial water use.

Since 1987, Georgia, Florida and Alabama have been involved in negotiations over a tri-state water compact to determine apportionment and usage of water in the ACT and ACF river basins. The failure to create a tri-state water compact has resulted in the negotiations process breaking down into litigation in federal court. Most recently, a court ordered mediator determined that the three states were at an impasse and that further mediation would not help.

A critical part of the process also involves updating of the water control manuals, which are the data the Corps uses to manage water releases from the river basins. Currently, the data being used is 20 years old, and does not reflect today’s realities of population and usage in the basins.

The Corps also is concerned with meeting its obligations under the Endangered Species Act. Specifically, the Corps is managing releases out of Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona in a manner that is in the best interest of endangered sturgeon in Florida and endangered mussels in Alabama, instead of in the best interests of the people of Georgia who rely on this water for drinking purposes. The Corps releases are designed to provide enough water flow to sustain these species.

Lake Lanier never fully recovered from 2006, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates both Lanier and Allatoona, released water to Florida for the spring spawning season of fewer than 10 Gulf sturgeon, a federally threatened, prehistoric fish. In addition, the corps relied on a faulty gauge at the lake, which overestimated the lake level by nearly 2 feet, costing about 22 billion gallons of water.

The Corps also is dipping into the lakes' storage to meet downstream water supply needs, such as ensuring power plants operated by Alabama Power have enough water to operate. The agency also is trying to release enough of Lake Allatoona's water to allow its river-dredging project to continue downstream in Alabama.

What is Johnny doing?

Johnny believes it is imperative that we update the water control plan to reflect 21st century water demand and usage in Georgia, Alabama and Florida, and he will continue to work to bring about a resolution among the states and will work to see that the threat to our Georgia lakes is stopped.

Johnny has introduced legislation with members of Georgia’s congressional delegation to provide a waiver for obligations under the Endangered Species Act to the Army Corps of Engineers during drought conditions. This will allow the Corps to manage the basin in a manner that is consistent with what is in the best interests of the people of the ACT and ACF basins, and not the two threatened species in that basin.

In 2006, Johnny held Senate hearings with Senator Chambliss in Gainesville and Columbus to put the Corps on record in regards to the update of the water control manuals. The senators engaged Secretary Woodley, the head of the Corps of Engineers, and Secretary Harvey, who at that time was Secretary of the Army, to urge them to take up the process of updating the water control manuals. Secretary Harvey verbally committed to the senators to begin to update the water control manuals on January 2, 2007.

On August 1, 2007, the senators met with the new Secretary of the Army, Pete Geren, as well as Woodley, Lieutenant General Robert L. Van Antwerp and General Counsel Craig Schmauder. At the meeting, Geren indicated his desire to give mediation time to work before starting the update of the water control manuals. However, Geren gave his commitment to the senators that if and when mediation broke down and was not making progress, he would begin the update of the water control manuals. On September 28, 2007, after judges involved in the mediation announced that the talks had broken down, the senators sent a letter to Geren strongly urging him to honor his pledge to update the water control plan.

On October 18, 2007, Johnny received some positive news from Secretary Geren with regards to Georgia's water crisis. Secretary Geren committed to him by telephone and in writing that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin to update the water control manual for the drought-ravaged ACT River Basin. Johnny and Senator Chambliss have been urging the Corps for at least two years to update the water manuals governing this river basin as well as the ACF River Basin. The current releases of water from these two basins are based on science and population figures that are almost 20 years old and that do not reflect the tremendous growth and modern-day needs of Georgia. While it is a good first step by Secretary Geren to begin an update of the ACT River Basin, Johnny urged him to also begin an update of the water control manual governing Georgia's other drought-ravaged basin, the ACF River Basin.

On January 30, 2008, Secretary Geren committed to Johnny by telephone and in writing that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin to update the water control manual for the drought-ravaged ACF River Basin.

On March 2, 2008, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and Council on Environmental Quality Chairman Jim Connaughton sent a letter to the governors of Alabama, Georgia and Florida. While acknowledging that more progress has been made over the last few months than in the previous 18 years, Kempthorne and Connaughton said the governors have been unable to cross the finish line with an agreement.

In the letter, Kempthorne and Connaughton told the governors that the federal government will now begin a process to review interim operations that will replace the current program before it expires on June 1, 2008. Federal agencies may subsequently issue further revisions as may be warranted by federal law, changing hydrological conditions and new information. Any future changes in interim operations will be necessary only until the water control plans and manuals are revised.

Kempthorne and Connaughton express disappointment with the states’ continued course of legal action against one another. If the states refuse to work with one another, Kempthorne and Connaughton state that the revised operational decisions will integrate important information and perspectives gained from the negotiations, but regrettably, it will necessarily be a solution being directed to the States instead of their much hoped for solution coming from the States.

Johnny hopes that the three Governors will come back to the table so the states can take advantage of the productive talks and agree on a resolution.