BUFORD — A former state environmental chief intimately familiar with the tri-state water wars said Tuesday night that a group of firms — including his own — have volunteered their time toward resolving the longstanding issue.
They have joined a Boston consulting firm in the effort and “are working very hard and fast, without pay,” said Harold Reheis, who led the Environmental Protection Division from 1991 to 2003, at the annual meeting of the 1071 Coalition, a Lake Lanier advocacy group.
“This is for the greater good of Georgia,” added Reheis, now senior vice president of Atlanta-based Joe Tanner & Associates, a firm specializing in governmental affairs, communications and business.
“What we are trying to do is examine all of the options that could bring more water to these communities that are going to be adversely affected by the judge’s ruling,” he said to the crowd gathered at Lake Lanier Islands’ Legacy Lodge and Conference Center.
Nearly 20 years of legal wrangling between Georgia, Alabama and Florida culminated in July with U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson’s decision that water supply is an illegal use of Lake Lanier.
The Minnesota judge’s July ruling gives Georgia three years to come up with a water-sharing plan with Alabama and Florida, stop using the reservoir for water consumption or have Congress reauthorize the lake’s use.
Reheis said he expects Georgia to file an appeal in the courts by the end of this month. He said he believes congressional action could be slow, particularly as lawmakers take into account reservoirs throughout the country.
“There could well be a lot of folks who don’t have any interest at all in helping us with this particular problem, because it might create a problem in their own district or state,” he said.
“I think it’s going to be extremely hard to get Georgia, Alabama and Florida congressional delegations all on the same page unless the (state’s other strategy) is successful,” Reheis said.
Georgia also is looking at “the three states getting back to the bargaining table and seeing if they can once again negotiate interstate compacts that would fairly allocate the waters.”
“That’s not a trivial thing — getting three governors to agree,” Reheis said. “Nineteen years of history and we haven’t been there yet; we’ve been close several times. The fact that we’re ... broken down into multiple federal lawsuits indicates the extreme difficulty of this particular task.
“But that doesn’t mean (agreement) can’t happen.”
Georgia has to work toward other solutions. “If all of those things fail, we better have a plan B,” Reheis said.
Not only is it key to Georgia’s future, a contingency plan also is needed to show the courts and Congress that the state is making a good faith effort.
Others who believe Georgia is waiting only for the courts or Congress to bring relief might think “Georgia doesn’t deserve my help,” he said.
The governor has formed a task force of about 80 people charged with developing a contingency plan.
The group will sift through information provided by the consultants and “prioritize a set of actions to fill the gap (of water) that we need to fill,” Reheis said.
“There are a lot of good options,” he said.
The task force’s last meeting is set for the second week of December, “so we’ve got a tremendous amount of work to do between now and then.”
The group “is going to come up with a prioritized list of what we can do and what we should do,” Reheis said.
Gov. Sonny Perdue wanted the task force’s work completed by the end of the year, or just before the state legislature goes back to work in January.
“In the event there are law or policy changes that need to be done by the state legislature to allow us to implement any of the important alternatives that are identified, the governor wants to be able to put those in front of the legislature in January, so they can be acted upon,” Reheis said.