Officials: Georgia, S.C. must share Savannah River

AUGUSTA - Georgia and South Carolina must learn to share the Savannah River in case the time comes that demand for its water exceeds its flow, according to water experts from both states. <br> <br> About 70 politicians, planners and natural resource experts gathered Monday to discuss a plan to balance future water needs through a proposed Savannah River Basin Compact. The compact would create a panel to govern interbasin transfers and oversee withdrawals from the river, which forms the boundary between the two states. <br> <br> ``If we are not united, well, we got lawyers, you got lawyers everybody&#39;s got lawyers,&#39;&#39; said Freddy Vang, deputy director of the South Carolina&#39;s Land, Water & Conservation Division. <br> <br> Habersham County, Ga., has applied for a permit to pipe up to 12.5 million gallons of water a day from the Savannah basin into the Chattahoochee River, which supplies the booming metro Atlanta area. The plan has drawn objections not only from South Carolina officials but also from those in Augusta and Savannah. <br> <br> Greenville County, S.C., currently takes as much as 54 million gallons of water a day from the basin at Lake Keowee and that&#39;s expected to increase to 150 million gallons a day, according to the Greenville Water System. <br> <br> ``This meeting is not what I&#39;d call premature or a rush to judgment,&#39;&#39; said South Carolina state Sen. Bob Waldrep, R-Anderson, who has proposed legislation to create a multistate compact on river issues. <br> <br> Georgia is already in protracted litigation with Alabama and Florida over water from the Chattahoochee and other rivers tapped by metro Atlanta, whose 4 million residents comprise half of the state&#39;s population. <br> <br> Dr. Jim Kundell, of the University of Georgia&#39;s Vinson Institute of Government, told those at Monday&#39;s conference that forging a compact between states is easier said than done. <br> <br> Talks stemming from a 1990 lawsuit filed by Alabama led to two compacts drafted in 1997. But a 1998 deadline for agreeing on a formula that would dictate how much water must flow to Florida and Alabama remains unresolved. <br> <br> ``It was supposed to be done by &#39;98,&#39;&#39; Dr. Kundell said. ``It&#39;s still being negotiated.&#39;&#39;