Georgia will allow southwest farms to make new water wells after decade-long ban

Georgia is lifting its moratorium on new water wells for farms in parts of southwest Georgia for the first time in over a decade. 

The moratorium was first instituted for farmers in parts of Southwest Georgia around Albany in 2012 during an extreme drought and rising tensions in the disputes over water among Florida, Georgia and Alabama. 

The conflict, known as the “tri-state water wars,” escalated a year later in 2013 when Florida sued Georgia in federal court claiming the state was using too much water from the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers and negatively impacting Florida, including its Apalachicola Bay oyster fishery.