Supreme Court Hears Florida-Georgia Water Wars Case
January 8th, 2018 by Jake Stofan
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in a decades old battle between Florida and Georgia over consumption of water from Lake Lanier.
Georgia wants unlimited water, Alabama and Florida want its use capped.
Julie Warithmell, Executive Director of Audubon Florida says Georgia’s over use of the ecosystem’s water hurts Florida’s bays and estuaries and has crippled Apalachicola’s oyster industry.
“This is a really important system not only just economically, but ecologically and so every time somebody washes a car in Atlanta it threatens the future of a plover in Apalachicola or a prothonotary warbler in the basin or an oyster on somebody’s plate,” said Wraithmell.
In February a court appointed special master ruled Florida has not proved Georiga’s consumption needed to be capped.
The Supreme Court will decide if the case should be returned to the special master to redistribute the water between the states.
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