Ga. adopts rules meant to restrict water transfers

ATLANTA - Facing a court ruling that could severely restrict Atlanta's water supply, Georgia officials adopted new environmental rules Wednesday meant to strengthen the state's hand in a long-running water dispute involving Lake Lanier, a conflict Gov. Nathan Deal doesn't think will be won in court.

The water conflict came to a head when U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson ruled in 2009 that Atlanta had little right to draw water from Lanier, the main source for 3 million people in the metropolitan region. Unless political leaders cut a deal next year, the judge said he will cut Atlanta's water usage to levels last seen in the 1970s.

Georgia has taken its case to the 11th U.S. Circuit of Appeals, although newly elected Gov. Nathan Deal seemed skeptical that his state will prevail.

"I don't think we can reverse Judge Magnuson's decision," Deal told a gathering of business leaders Wednesday.

Deal spokeswoman Stephanie Mayfield said the governor is not backing away from the appeal but wants serious contingency plans in case Georgia loses. He has proposed spending $300 million over four years to building reservoirs across the state. He earlier met with the new governors of Alabama and Florida and discussed the water conflict.

State leaders have taken other steps to answer complaints from neighboring states that Georgia uses more than its fair share of water.

For example, rules adopted Wednesday by board members of the Department of Natural Resources are meant to provide greater scrutiny on requests to take water out of one river basin, use it and return it to another basin. Those transfers diminish water flow in the host river, a big problem during dry spells, and make less water available for those downstream.

Under the new rules, regulators should consider the effects a transfer has on water quality, local needs for water, whether conservation has been attempted and whether the shift is financially feasible compared to other ways of getting water. It instructs Georgia regulators to consider the effect on other states.

The guidelines comes from a statewide water plan adopted in 2008. Linda MacGregor, chief of the EPD's watershed protection branch, said regulators were already analyzing some of those factors, thought not in as much detail.

Environmental groups including the Sierra Club criticized the rules as weak because regulators can ultimately ignore them and approve a water transfer anyway. Sierra Club lobbyist Neil Herring said lawmakers should have enshrined tougher rules into law.

"It provides the appearance and not the substance of regulation," Herring said. "We'd prefer legislation to regulation on a subject like this because legislation expresses the will of the people as opposed to the will of an appointed board."

State Sen. Ross Tolleson, R-Perry, said regulators need flexibility to accommodate growth or serve communities at the boundaries of watersheds. He said there was not enough political support to pass legislation.

Besides the new rules on water transfers, lawmakers last year passed conservation laws requiring high efficiency toilets, water-saving plumbing fixtures and limiting outdoor watering at midday. Tolleson said conservation attempts could ease negotiations with Alabama and Florida.

"I think it's always good when you go to the negotiating table to say, "Look, this is what we've tried to do to help,'" Tolleson said. "It's bad when you go to the negotiating table and haven't done anything."