Alabama's turn has come as a meeting spot for a tri-state river basin group formed two years ago to build consensus amid touchy water issues.

The governing board of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint Stakeholders is set to gather today and Thursday at the Lakepoint Lodge in Lake Eufaula.

Groups working on hydrologic models and water efficiency will report to the group, as well as make recommendations, said Wilton Rooks, chairman of the group's executive committee.

"One of the big agenda items is to develop an action plan for going forward," he said. "We'll basically lay out the tasks and the objectives and goals we want to try to achieve in the next year.

"We're looking forward to getting some things done."

The group began forming in 2008 after various people with a vested interest in the basin became frustrated over the two-decade stalemate between Georgia, Florida and Alabama concerning water usage in the basin, which includes Lake Lanier.

In August 2009, one month after a federal judge ruled Georgia wasn't authorized to use Lake Lanier as a drinking source, 20 users of the rivers met to complete a charter and bylaws for what would become ACF Stakeholders.

The group, which has the motto "Working together to share a common resource," has held quarterly meetings in Albany and Apalachicola, Fla.

The last one took place in June at the Lake Lanier Legacy Lodge and Conference Center at Lake Lanier Islands.

"The organization is so diverse that almost any issue that comes up requires working through ... and has to take into consideration numerous views of water in the watershed and how it is being used," said Rooks, also a vice president with the Gainesville-based Lake Lanier Association.

"Things are kind of a slow process because of the need to have a lot of discussion back and forth."

But given the diversity of the group and the range of viewpoints, meetings "are going along quite well," Rooks said.

The group's meetings are open to the public. Today's gathering starts at 9 a.m. Central Standard Time.