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Fighting over water Who would have ever thought that neighboring southeastern states, both teeming with rivers and streams and adjoining oceanic waters would be fighting over the wet stuff? It happens in the dry west but not down south where water is plentiful. That's what it has come to between Alabama, Georgia and Florida as an extreme drought continues and water sources in north Georgia that feed the other two states are drying up. The situation is critical. Lakes and reservoirs that supply water for the metro Atlanta area are almost dry and water is being rationed to the four million or so people who live there. Georgia is fighting to keep the U.S. Corps of Engineers from releasing any water downstream, prompting protests from Alabama and Florida where leaders say such cutbacks would severely cripple people and business in those states. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will be in Washington, D.C. Thursday to discuss how to best share the decreasing water resources. Water is a precious commodity, an essential to life, that we have taken for granted for far too long. The droughts that have persisted for years now and the global warming trend is making us rethink how we use and distribute this precious asset.
Surely some kind of compromise can be reached. Everyone has to have water.
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