Officials with the Georgia Water Coalition said that there are few actual conservation mandates in the plan, which sailed through the Legislature in its opening days and has already been signed by Gov. Sonny Perdue.
"We can no longer afford to put off common sense conservation measures," said Sally Bethea, Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper.
The plan was adopted in response to an epic drought in Georgia that prompted state officials to restrict water use and spurred Perdue to hold a public prayer for rain.
The plan calls for three years of assessments to measure Georgia's water supply and demand. Perdue's proposed budget includes $11 million to pay for the tests. It also creates regional water councils to draft water plans for each area.
Environmentalists who gathered at a state Capitol news conference on Wednesday said those council regions should be based on river basin boundaries instead of political ones.
Politicians at the news conference complained that the plan creates "two Georgias," favoring the booming metro-Atlanta region and leaving the rest of the state scrambling for scraps.
Sen. Preston Smith, R-Rome, questioned why officials moved so quickly to rush the plan through.
"My fear is that in the haste to declare victory and put up the banner that says 'mission accomplished' we may have missed the opportunity for real meaningful reform," he said.
Sen. Bill Cowsert was a bit more optimistic. He said there is an effort underway for additional legislation that could fine-tune the plan. He is also the author of legislation which has cleared the Senate that would provide additional oversight to the process.
"This is a work in progress," the Republican from Athens said.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2008/2/206945