For the first time in more than a decade, Georgia environmental regulators will consider new water withdrawals in two river basins where water supplies have been stretched by past drought and the competing demands of cities and farms.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division announced Wednesday it will begin accepting new applications for groundwater withdrawals in portions of the lower Flint and Chattahoochee river basins in southwest Georgia starting in April.
Since 2012, new permits have been off limits in that area for farmers seeking to suck groundwater from the Floridan aquifer — the vast reservoir that sits beneath South Georgia and other Southeastern states. The Floridan aquifer is hydrologically linked to the lower Flint, so pumping water from underground can reduce flows on the river.
Back then, the state also halted new withdrawals from some Flint River tributaries, and those restrictions will remain in place.
The moratorium was established when the state was dealing with two of the worst droughts in Georgia history. The extended dry spells stressed groundwater and surface water resources in the region, leading then-Environmental Protection Division Director Jud Turner to implement the pause.
“A continued increase in withdrawals from these resources may ultimately lead to unacceptable impacts to existing users or compromise the sustainable capacities of these resources,” Turner wrote in a July 2012 letter announcing the move.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
The droughts also devastated oysters in Apalachicola Bay, and Florida sued Georgia in 2013, arguing the state’s overuse of water from the Chattahoochee and Flint caused the bivalves’ demise.
But Georgia’s water situation has improved since then.
The state has been spared any droughts as severe as the ones that began in 2006 and 2010. Georgia also emerged victorious in its legal fight with Florida — and others with neighbors to the west in Alabama — over their shared water. The wins helped buttress the available supplies for metro Atlanta and farmers downstream.
The lower Flint is home to rare freshwater mussels, and in 2022 the Georgia Water Planning and Policy Center and the state Department of Natural Resources were awarded a nearly $50 million federal grant to develop a “Habitat Conservation Plan.” Georgia environmental officials said the funding has helped them craft a strategy they believe will protect wildlife and allow farmers to meet their needs.
With years of data in hand and new conservation measures in place, Georgia officials said the time is right to ease the restrictions.
“A lot of work has been done since 2012, especially over the last couple years,” Environmental Protection Division Director Jeff Cown said in a statement this week. “EPD is confident with these updated recommendations, as our metering program has gathered extensive data strengthening our technical understanding of surface water and groundwater in the Lower Flint.”
Gov. Brian Kemp cheered the move, saying it will help farmers impacted by recent hurricanes bounce back.
“I am grateful to the EPD for their diligent and hard work in ensuring that our state is on a path that protects both Georgia farmers and our water resources,” Kemp said in a statement.
The new permits EPD will consider will come with some guardrails. If well levels sink below a defined drought trigger point, EPD will restrict users from pumping.
Gordon Rogers, the riverkeeper and executive director of the Flint Riverkeeper, also agreed it was time for a “calibrated lifting of the moratorium.”
“We’re happy with this and we hope farmers are happy with it,” Rogers said. “And we hope that as conservation increases, we’re able to do more.”
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