Local Leaders Plead for Water Equity At Congressional Forum

On Monday afternoon, they once again talked about the effect that record low freshwater flows are having on the health of the Apalachicola Bay.

But this time it got emotional.

 "The seafood industry has carried Franklin County's economy since the end of the 19th century. The river system renews its oyster beds continually, furnishing over 1,000 families of third and fourth generation oystermen with a way of life that is an integral part of the community they live in," said Franklin County Commissioner Joseph "Smokey" Parrish, his voice breaking as he enumerated symptoms of the decline in the seafood harvested out of the bay over the last two years.

. "Locally we like to think of this area of the Panhandle as paradise. During the last several years, we have seen increasing threats to the environment, economy and heritage of this unspoiled region due to the drought and increasing upstream water usage."

Parrish was among a contingent of locals who joined with representatives of Florida's Apalachicola Riparian County Coalition, a group representing the Florida counties in the Apalachicola River Basin, as they met with congressmen, scientists, environmental advocates and representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife to discuss the fate of the Apalachicola River and Bay.

Many scientists and stakeholders in the Apalachicola / Chattahoochee / Flint (ACF) River system fear that record low flows, due to water retention by the Corps in upstream reservoirs, is damaging the ecosystem of the ACF basin and the Apalachicola Bay.

The forum, held at Jim Woodruff Dam in Chattahoochee, was organized and hosted by Congressman Allen Boyd (D-North Florida), whose constituency includes the six riparian counties.

Representatives of Florida businesses, environmental advocates and scientists pleaded for further studies to assess the potential impact of the Corps' decision to reduce flows in the ACF River system.

Michael Sole, secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, said reduction in flow was not necessary to assure adequate drinking water for the population of Atlanta.

General Joseph Schroedel, commander and Engineer for the South Atlantic Division of the Corps, responded that in a country at war, we must all be willing to make sacrifices. He said that the Corps now plans to organize a workshop on the problems of water distribution, which it hopes will settle the interstate water dispute once and for all.

Participants presented their arguments to Boyd and to North Carolina Democratic Congressman Heath Schuler, chairman of the Small Business Subcommittee on Rural and Urban Entrepreneurship.

A Monitored and Enforceable Process

Riverkeeper Dave McLain set the tone for the first part of the meeting. The word of the day was "equity" as stakeholders downstream from the sprawling metropolitan area of Atlanta begged for consideration in the dividing of limited water resources in the face of a worsening drought.

"I strongly believe that good public policy must always have, as an essential component, a process for interaction between government policy makers and the individuals and communities, the stake holders, directly affected by the policy being enacted. In this case, the policy deals with an equitable allocation of the surface waters of the ACF River basin. We are told that we are experiencing a drought, a recurring event in nature," he said. " I'm not here to debate the obvious, but ‘recurring' means we can plan. The city of Atlanta didn't cause the drought, but failures to enact growth management and water management planning are difficult to understand. For every water storage contract the Corps of Engineers approves, there should be a monitored and enforceable process for demand / water consumption management."

McLain argued that under the Eastern Water Law, common law principle, communities bordering on water have an indisputable right to a share in those waters, but that the Corps intends to cut flows to below historical record flows for an undetermined amount of time to provide Atlanta's growing population with water while denying downstream stakeholders.

He said the Corps has yet to provide evidence their actions in withholding water from the river system will not damage the coastal environment and economy, which they must do under terms of the Coastal Zone Management Act.

McLain asked that reductions in river flow be suspended until the independent National Research Council carries out a comprehensive, basin-wide study of the ACF system. "The first real steps to an equitable distribution of those waters must begin with such an independent study," he said.

A series of speakers followed, each advocating long-term planning and further study of the effect of reduced flows on the ACF basin.

Dr. Felicia Coleman, who heads the Florida State University marine lab in St. Teresa, said damage to the ACF system and the bay could have a disastrous impact on the entire Gulf of Mexico and that there is a direct correlation between river flow and fishery productivity.

Riverkeeper Dan Tonsmeire said the baseline for stakeholder water allocations should be based on pre-dam flows, 1975 and earlier, rather than post dam river levels.

"How many times has the flow in the Apalachicola River been this low prior to the construction of the dams?" asked Shuler.

"Never," responded Tonsmeire.

"We haven't heard much about the potential for conservation and new technology to reduce waste in the ACF system," said Kevin Begos, director of the Franklin County Seafood Task Force. "All we hear are demands from Georgia for an ever-increasing share of the resource."

A Corps' Sponsored Workshop

Schroedel said he was happy for another opportunity to engage in a public dialogue.

"So far today, I haven't heard anything new," he said. "The Corps shares the loss of people all up and down the river. We are all being challenged. America is being challenged. We are at war. I spent yesterday with a family who just lost a son in Iraq."

Referring to a 30-minute trip to the bay's oyster bars on July 7, Schroedel said he now has a better understanding of the problems of local seafood workers. "The bottom line is that there's not enough water in the system," he said. "We're doing the best with what we have but we are handicapped with a system designed in 1945.

"There's no reason why the states should not be working together. We don't have to, but we're going to host a workshop in about a month and we hope to create a regional water council. We (the Corps) have been able to keep Virginia and North Carolina working hand-in-hand over water issues. Maybe we can do the same here. We plan to set up an aggressive outreach plan."

Franklin County Commissioner Russell Crofton said, "The calls I get are from people who think that the Corps has turned its back on Franklin County and turned to the north, rather than concentrate on where the water is going or where it's not going."

A Responsible and Equitable Plan

Boyd told forum participants that to develop a responsible equitable water sharing plan, "we must have impartial and scientific information on the needs of the entire ACF basin. In the 1970s, Florida put a very strong water management plan into effect so that we wouldn't get into this mess. I don't know what Georgia's water plan is, but it's not like Florida's. There has to be some sort of regional guidance so everyone's needs can be met. If we can't get the states to work together, we'll have to move toward a federal solution."

Ken Osborn, president of the Alligator Point Taxpayers Association, attended the forum. In an interview following the presentations he said, "I'm concerned that the study will tie all of this up. How long would it take? This demonizing of both sides has got to stop."

In a press release following the forum, Boyd said, "The Apalachicola River and Bay and the local and regional economies are all suffering under the current way of doing business. While balancing the needs of all users along the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River System is no easy feat, we must work together to develop a more equitable water plan that does not threaten the livelihood and the very way of life for the people of North Florida."

In an interview following the forum, Tonsmeire said, "I believe that if there's one thing that has come out of this meeting it's that we have gained the attention of Congress. Hopefully that will lead to more support for further research into the equitable division of the water here and a suspension of reduced flows until a study can be completed."

The Riparian County Stakeholders Coalition said it plans to compose a letter summarizing their understanding of the forum and send it to the Corps.

"We must sit up straight and talk loudly. If they don't think this is for the record, we need to make sure they know it is," said C. Chadwick Taylor, of Greenwood, a member of the coalition.