Water Issue Could be Serious for Region

The drought’s not pretty, but even worse is what could be a looming fight over water.

Instead of bickering, we propose planning and study.

The effects of the drought are well documented. The Tennessee Valley Authority reported a loss of $17 million in the first quarter of the 2008 fiscal year, and the drought is one of the reasons.

With little rain to replenish TVA’s depleted tributary lakes, the utility’s production of cheap hydroelectric power has been down. The utility has been forced to buy more expensive electricity from outside suppliers.

According to TVA, rainfall from October through the end of January was 28 percent below normal, while the amount of water reaching the Tennessee River and its reservoirs was 67 percent below normal.

The Tennessee River is one of Tennessee’s blessings – one of the factors that has made TVA so successful and one of the reasons water shortages have rarely been a problem in the state.

Georgia, however, has not fared as well. In November, reports revealed that reservoirs in the Atlanta area were close enough to the bottom that the dirtier water that contained more bacteria was going to need more expensive purification.

That same month, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue held a public prayer vigil for rain on the steps of the state Capitol.

With water so critical, it’s not a surprise that Georgia is looking to Tennessee and the Tennessee River. Atlanta’s mayor has raised the idea of tapping the Tennessee River, but Gov. Phil Bredesen has cautioned against large transfers from the river.

But the issue has caused TVA to begin formulating a board-level policy on interbasin water transfers from the Tennessee River system.

The latest proposal – from Georgia – is a new look at the border between Tennessee and Georgia. The Georgia Legislature argues that an 1818 survey that drew the Georgia border one mile south of the river is flawed. The legislature wants to create a boundary line commission to resolve the dispute and give Georgia access to part of the river to ease Atlanta’s water shortages.

Any change to the border would have to be approved by the legislatures in both states as well as Congress. Although the Georgia Legislature seems disposed to redraw the border, the Tennessee Legislature isn’t.

“If they ever tried,” said state Sen. Andy Berke, whose district includes Chattanooga, “the governor and me and everybody else would be waiting for them.”

Bredesen responded with a laugh, “We will protect our borders here in Tennessee.”

The Tennessee Legislature responded Wednesday by denouncing the resolution by the Georgia Legislature that seeks to redraw the state line, and now our legislators are drafting a retort.

Ignoring the water problem – and treating this latest suggestion from Georgia as a joke – won’t make it go away. It’s affecting Atlanta, and it’s affecting TVA. It may well affect Tennessee.

Now is the time to take a serious look at our water resources and how they’re managed. A policy to share water might not harm Tennessee, but it’s impossible to know that without consideration and study.

Atlanta, faced with the same dilemma years ago, apparently did nothing.

Tom Kilgore, president and CEO of TVA, had this to say: “If Atlanta calls, I lived there when they were supposed to build six reservoirs around the city, and they built zero, so they’re starting with the wrong person.”

Tennessee can learn from Atlanta’s failures.

We must start studying the issue while there is time to enact a plan and carry it out. The headwaters of the Tennessee River are right here in East Tennessee, and we don’t want to squander one of our most precious resources.