ATLANTA - A federal judge in Alabama has ruled that a deal that would allow metro Atlanta to take as much as 50 percent more water from Lake Lanier violates a previous court order.
The ruling Thursday by U.S. District Judge Karon Owen Bowdre in Birmingham jeopardizes the metro area's plan for ensuring enough drinking water for the next 20 years.
The order cited by Bowdre was issued after Alabama sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1990. It said federal regulators could not promise any more water from Lake Lanier to metro Atlanta without the consent of Alabama and Florida.
Georgia, Alabama and Florida have been fighting over access to common waters for more than a decade. In September, five years of negotiations fell apart, primarily over the water deal for metro Atlanta that left out Alabama and Florida.
Friday
May 10th, 2024
10:08PM
