GAINESVILLE, Ga. - Alabama and Florida have rejected a proposed plan to keep secret the results of a water study being done by a private group.

The Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint Stakeholders group had sought to keep the data confidential. The Times of Gainesville reports that the group had concerns about information leaks from an ongoing water study conducted by the Georgia Institute of Technology's Georgia Water Resources Institute.

The stakeholder group had voted to keep its data secret until it could be released as part of an overall plan on water usage, the focus of ongoing legal battles between the states.

It wanted Alabama and Florida to enter into a memorandum of understanding agreeing to confidentiality.

Georgia Environmental Protection Division Director Jud Turner said it's disappointing that Alabama and Florida declined to sign the deal.