Georgia And Florida Lay Out Cases Ahead Of Water Wars Trial
Molly Samuel / WABE
Georgia and Florida go to court later this month to argue over water that they’ve been fighting about for decades. This week, the states laid out the cases they plan to make.
In its pre-trial brief, Florida says that Georgia uses too much water from the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers for Atlanta homes and businesses and for south Georgia farms.
Florida says that’s killing its oyster industry in the Apalachicola Bay, hurting the economy there, and affecting other animals. So it’s asking for a cap – a limit on how much water Georgia can consume.
Georgia says the oyster industry’s problems aren’t its fault. It says Florida did it to itself by over-harvesting after the BP oil spill. It says Florida can’t prove that other animals are harmed. And Georgia says a cap on its use wouldn’t necessarily mean that Florida would get more water, since the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages how much water flows down the rivers.
Arguments in front of a representative of the U.S. Supreme Court begin on Halloween in Portland, Maine.
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