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Georgia wants to take Tennessee border land and access water from Tennessee River

Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge: Where the Hiwassee and Tennessee rivers meet, wildlife-watchers on foot or in boats can observe thousands of migrating sandhill cranes in the winter and hundreds of other nesting species throughout the year.
Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge: Where the Hiwassee and Tennessee rivers meet, wildlife-watchers on foot or in boats can observe thousands of migrating sandhill cranes in the winter and hundreds of other nesting species throughout the year. Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge: Where the Hiwassee and Tennessee rivers meet, wildlife-watchers on foot or in boats can observe thousands of migrating sandhill cranes in the winter and hundreds of other nesting species throughout the year.

By Associated Press 4 min read

Look out, Tennessee. Georgia wants its northern border back.

Georgia legislators are renewing a 200-year-old fight to reclaim a narrow strip of border land – and access to fresh drinking water from the Tennessee River that could quench metro Atlanta’s undying thirst.

The border has been mapped incorrectly since 1818, when surveyors mistakenly set the line between the states about 1 mile south of where it should be. To this day, the border seen on every U.S. map remains based on the inaccurate survey instead of the 35th parallel, where Congress intended it to be when Tennessee became a state in 1796.

While skeptics view Georgia’s quest as little more than a pipe dream, state lawmakers are serious.

The Georgia General Assembly approved a resolution this year to form a delegation to negotiate the “true border” with Tennessee. If diplomacy fails, Georgia could take its case to the U.S. Supreme Court.