While waiting for an appeals court to decide the future use of Lake Lanier, Georgia lawmakers continue to seek answers to the state’s long-term water needs, including rebooting talks of tapping the Tennessee River.
Bills have been introduced in both chambers to allow water withdrawn from the Tennessee River basin to be piped south, exempting it from state regulations governing transfer of water between river basins. And last week Senate Resolution 228 passed out of the Senate Natural Resource Committee urging the state to study a plan to divert water from Georgia streams feeding into the Tennessee for in-state use.
Rep. Harry Geisinger, R-Roswell, a longtime supporter of Georgia’s disputed rights to the Tennessee River, credits the resurgence of interest to Gov. Nathan Deal’s attention to finding new sources of water for North Georgia.
“Gov. Deal truly does understand the importance of water, and I think we will make progress on the issue,” he said.
The long-simmering border dispute between Georgia and Tennessee last bubbled over in 2008, when Georgia legislators urged then-Gov. Sonny Perdue to negotiate with Tennessee the true location of the line dividing the two states. The goal was to establish Georgia’s claim on a sliver of the river near Georgia’s northwest corner. Tennessee officials were not interested in talking about it.