Basin Group to Take on Water Wars

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) -- After nearly 20 years of litigation and no resolution concerning the allocation of water shared by Georgia, Alabama and Florida, a group involving parties with vested interests in those states plans to assert its voice.

ACF Stakeholders began to take shape last year after an initial meeting involving seven people throughout the basin and has become incorporated in Georgia as a nonprofit corporation.

The initial meeting of the group's governing board, which will be selected by representatives from each sub-basin this month, is planned for December 10th in Albany.

The issue of water storage has been in and out of the courts for years, with U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson ruling in July that water withdrawal was never a congressionally authorized use of Lake Lanier.

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