The secretary of the Army has told U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., that updating the water control plans and manuals for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river basin will be a three-year process.

Secretary Pete Geren, in a letter sent Wednesday, told Isakson that the revised plan and manuals "will serve as the formal documents that provide for the adoption and implementation of any drought management plan that is cooperatively developed in the future."

Geren acknowledged that current discussions on a water agreement between the governors of Georgia, Alabama and Florida are under way.

"The Army is committed to incorporating any agreement that is reached among the three states on drought management measures into the new water control plans and manuals to the full extent allowed by law," Geren wrote.

The secretary has named Jerry Barnes as regional water management director for the process. Barnes is also overseeing the update of the water control plans and manuals for the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa river basin, which bisect the states of Georgia and Alabama.